Former England captain Nasser Hussain has heaped praise on the team’s aggressive approach in the first Test match against Pakistan. England made a bold declaration at 264-7 after 35.5 overs in the second innings to set up a target of 343 runs. The tourists gave a total of four sessions to Pakistan to chase down the score.
England scored their runs at a run rate of 7.43 in the second essay. In fact, the visitors had scored their runs at a run rate of 6.75 in the first innings when they had posted 657 runs on the board.
England has adopted an aggressive approach in Test matches and they are reaping the rewards for ‘Bazball’.
Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for Daily Mail, “Win, lose or draw on Monday, England are reshaping Test cricket, and that’s something the whole game should celebrate. I thought Stokes’s declaration was outstanding, even if Pakistan ends up getting these runs or blocking for a draw.”
The Rawalpindi pitch has come under the scanner as it didn’t provide any assistance to the bowlers in the first two innings. It was a featherbed as there was no help for the bowlers.
“England knew they needed time to take 10 wickets on this lifeless Rawalpindi surface, and that meant giving themselves enough overs to do it, and dangle a carrot for the Pakistanis. If you can manage to attract interest to a game played in conditions like these, then what Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are doing for Test cricket is invaluable.”
Meanwhile, England was able to dismiss Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam on a cheap score of four runs. Hussain showered praise on England’s strategy for getting the better of Azam.
“To produce some out-of-the-box thinking with the ball was fantastic. I was on the outfield at tea when Mark Wood was marking out a run-up for Ben Stokes, and it was clear the captain was going to be taking the new ball. England realised that the orthodox approach of pitching the ball up hadn’t worked in this game.”
At the time of writing, Pakistan required another 84 runs to win with five wickets in hand.
