Ahead of the second Test against Pakistan, England captain Ben Stokes feels that if they get a similar wicket to the first match then it will be an advantage for them. The second Test in Multan will be played on the same surface as the series opener where England defeated Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs last week. Stokes missed that match due to his hamstring injury as Ollie Pope led the side in his absence.
“If you look at the way that the first Test played out, if another wicket like that was produced, maybe that gives us more of an advantage,” said Stokes, who returns to the playing 11.
England made two changes to their line-up as pacers Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes were dropped to bring in Matthew Potts and Stokes while spin duo Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir kept their place.
“You’d like to think it might be a bit more in favour of the spin, so if it does spin more, or if it does reverse more, there are more options there for both teams,” the all-rounder said.
On the other hand, Pakistan dropped former skipper Babar Azam along with star pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah from the squad for the remaining Tests of the series. Reacting to that, Stokes said, “Everything on that. That’s Pakistan’s cricket issue. Nothing to do with me.”
On Pakistan’s decision to reuse the surface, Stokes was surprised with the move. “It could be a tactic but I’ve never seen a pitch before used in back-to-back games. And I’ve never seen fans that big standing as umpires,” he said, referring to two big industrial fans at both ends being used to dry the pitch.
“I think if we went 1-0 down at home, we would probably be going to our groundsman at the second Test saying ‘Can we have a bit more of this, bit more of that’ to use our home advantage in our favour. With me being captain and Baz being coach, that’s how we both view cricket, that there should be a winner,” Stokes added.
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