Babar Azam reflects on Pakistan's shortcomings

Being dismissed for 202 in the first innings, after England had been skittled for 281, meant the hosts surrender a decent position in the Test and now head to Karachi hoping to avoid a whitewash

Charudatta Laturkar | 12/12/2022 at 14:57

Babar Azam, the Pakistan captain, believes a sub-standard first-innings batting performance was central to the defeat to England in Multan.

Having dismissed the tourists for 281, the hosts navigated their way to 142 for 2 in reply.

But their eight remaining wickets fell for 60, handing England a 79-run lead heading into the second half of the game.

Pakistan were then set 355 to win but lost out by 26 runs after losing six wickets on either side of lunch.

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Saud Shakeel's dismissal, six short of his century, was a crucial moment on day four (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Defeat gives England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series and ends any hope of reaching next year's World Test Championship final.

"Yes, we were not up to the mark in the first innings," Babar said at the post-match presentation. "We had a couple of soft dismissals.

"After that, we had a fightback in the bowling, and second innings, we fought well, but unfortunately, we did not finish it.

"We have a simple plan to carry on the momentum; we had good partnerships between Imam (-ul-Haq) and Saud and then Saud and (Mohammad) Nawaz. "The tail also fought well, but we didn't finish well."

The turning point on day four came when Saud Shakeel was dismissed on 94, after appearing to nudge the ball down the leg side and into the gloves of Ollie Pope.

The catch, given out on the field, was sent to the DRS to clarify. After an agonising delay, umpire Joel Wilson eventually found no evidence to overturn the decision.

"The Shakeel dismissal cost us. It looked to us as if the ball had touched the ground. As a professional, you have to respect the umpire's decision, but we felt the ball had been grounded," Babar added.

There was at least one positive for Pakistan, in the form of the performance of Abrar Ahmed who delivered match figures of 11 for 234 on debut.

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^{Abrar Ahmed enjoyed a memorable debut (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)}

"Abrar had a great start, making excellent use of the conditions in the first innings, and he bowled effectively after that," said the skipper. "Well done to him and the group."

Pope, who was retained behind the stumps ahead of first-choice keeper Ben Foakes, insisted after play he initially took the ball cleanly, but couldn't be certain thereafter.

"I knew it had carried," Pope said. "I didn't think it had bounced before. As a keeper when you've got the gloves on you honestly can't tell.

"I didn't think it had touched the ground after. When you have gloves on you feel it go in but that's it."