England has claimed one in every of their best Test victories of all time with their aggressive techniques paying off in spades in opposition to Pakistan.
Fast bowlers Ollie Robinson and James Anderson took 4 wickets apiece as England pulled off an anthralling 74-run win over Pakistan on Monday night time (AEDT) within the first Test in Rawalpindi.
Anderson took 4-36 and Robinson 4-50 on a placid Rawalpindi Stadium pitch to dismiss Pakistan for 268, with the stadium floodlights glowing as daylight light.
Pakistan’s final pair of Naseem Shah (six) and Mohammad Ali (nought) defied England for 35 minutes and eight.5 overs earlier than spinner Jack Leach trapped Naseem leg-before, leaving England gamers ecstatic.
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“That is one of the greatest Test match victories you will ever see,” commentator Nasser Hussain declared.
Meanwhile, English media determine Piers Morgan branded it the “greatest win in Test history” because the cricket world went wild over the unimaginable end result.
The win — giving England a 1-0 lead within the three-Test sequence — embellished England’s newly adopted “Bazball” cricket, an aggressive fashion taken from the nickname of head coach Brendon McCullum.
Skipper Ben Stokes was additionally energetic all through the day, holding unrelenting stress on the Pakistan batters with close-set fields and clever bowling adjustments.
He hailed the win as “special”, figuring that they had lower than 10 minutes to seal victory earlier than dangerous gentle would have been known as.
“I think it’s maybe up there with one of England’s greatest away wins,” stated Stokes.
“We’ve done something very special this week.”
The win is England’s seventh in eight Tests underneath the brand new administration of McCullum and Stokes, put in in May this yr.
It was achieved after dangling the carrot-like goal of 343 runs for Pakistan to win in a doable 130 overs.
For some time, Pakistan had their probability.
At tea, Pakistan have been 257-5 — needing 86 runs to win in an intriguing final session.
England wanted 5 wickets, and Robinson struck within the fourth over after the break, trapping Agha Salman leg-before for 30.
In his subsequent over he claimed Azhar Ali for 40 to deliver England near victory. At the opposite finish, Anderson eliminated Zahid Mahmood (one) and Haris Rauf (nought) in the identical over as 4 wickets fell for simply seven runs.
Then it was all the way down to nail biting earlier than Leach eliminated Naseem.
“We are disappointed as a team,” Pakistan skipper Babar Azam stated afterwards.
“At lunch we were confident that we could win, but credit to England on their brilliant effort.”
A complete of 1,236 runs have been scored by the 2 groups of their first innings — England 657 and Pakistan 579 — earlier than the guests set the Test alight by declaring their second innings at 264-7 on Sunday.
Pakistan batted with warning within the first session as they progressed from an in a single day whole of 80-2 to 169-3, shedding opener Imam-ul-Haq for 48 to pacer Anderson.
Mohammad Rizwan was one in every of two wickets to fall within the second session for 46, placing on a preventing 87-run stand for the fourth wicket with Saud Shakeel, who scored 76.
In the fourth over after lunch, Anderson had Rizwan caught behind whereas Robinson dismissed Shakeel to a superb catch by substitute Keaton Jennings at brief cowl.
England are on their first Test tour of Pakistan since 2005, having declined to go to within the interim years on safety grounds.
The second Test is in Multan from December 9 to 13, and the third in Karachi from December 17 to 21.
– With AFP
Originally printed as England declare ‘greatest win in Test history’ as aggressive techniques repay in opposition to Pakistan
