PAK vs ENG | Twitter and Babar Azam doff their hat to Ben Stokes as his bold captaincy forces England to historic 74-run triumph in Rawalpindi

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Some moments arrive in sports where it becomes immediately evident that history is being scripted and a revolution is underway. Ben Stokes and co. proved that Test cricket can break free of conventions and still be a stellar example of the highest quality of cricket as they registered a valiant win.

England registered their first Test win in Pakistan in 22 years as they fought against all odds to defeat Pakistan by 74 runs in an out-and-out thriller at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Monday. The Three Lions took the game by its horn and refused to be subdued by the flat pitch on offer, playing an unprecedentedly aggressive brand of cricket that eventually managed to force a result in the last session of play.

Batting first, England came out all guns blazing and took advantage of the batters' paradise to pile on 657 runs with a record four centurions in the same innings. The Men in Green, in response, refused to back down as they cut down the lead to just 78 runs and with less than two days remaining, a result seemed unlikely. However, Ben Stokes, headlining a new brand of cricket alongside head coach Brendon McCullum where the team goes for a result regardless of the possibility of losing, etched out a gung-ho strategy for the batsmen as they declared on 264/7, having scored the runs 7.36 runs an over.

With a relatively measly target of 343, given the conditions, but limited time in hand, all three results were possible. A few early wickets engineered by some non-conventional new ball bowling featuring a barrage of bouncers and no slips handed the advantage to the visitors but Pakistan pulled back the tie with some solid partnerships. Heading into the final sessions, the side needed 86 runs with five wickets in hand and looked the favourites to enforce a win but a flurry of scalps meant they were left fighting for a draw by the end. Naseem Shah and Mohammad Ali put up a valiant fight, surviving 53 balls for the 10th wicket, but eventually, Jack leach broke through to hand England a famous victory. 

At the end of the game, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam displayed a mark of respect to Ben Stokes while shaking his hand as he doffed his cap, perfectly capping off a historic Test.

Indeed won't work

Nail biting test

Masterclass captaincy

Fabulastic

Nothing better

Deserving win

Take a bow

Era defining

Its real!

Pathetic show

 

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