The captain of the English cricket team, Ben Stokes, is making a comeback to professional cricket after a hiatus of two months. This will be during the second Test match with Pakistan in Multan, scheduled to commence on 15th October. Stokes, who suffered a hamstring strain during the hundred season, found himself picked in England’s playing XI for the second fixture at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The 33-year-old bowled and batted in the nets prior to the match without showing any signs of discomfort. In his place, last week Ollie Pope took charge of England in the first match of the series and emerged victorious.
However, Pakistan has omitted a few key players before the second Test, among them Shaheen Afridi, the former captain Babar Azam.
Stokes was speaking the day before the match when he was asked to comment on the omission of Babar and Shaheen from the team. But, Stokes held back his comments saying that he and the team were not bothered about the matter.
“Yeah, just everything on that is Pakistan cricket’s issue. It has nothing to do with me,” Stokes during the pre-match press conference at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
Stokes missed the three-match home series against Sri Lanka and last week’s first Test which the visitors won by an innings.
Durham seamer Matthew Potts also returns to the side for the first time since the Lord’s Test against Sri Lanka at the end of August. Seamers Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes have been rested.
With England dropping two pacer, Stokes confirmed he’ll be ‘playing as a third seamer’ to Potts and Brydon Carse, who impressed on his debut in Multan.
In Test cricket, which has existed for 147 years, Pakistan became the first team to lose by an innings after making more than 550 runs in their first innings.
Desperate Pakistan, who have not won any Test match at home in the last 11 matches, has opted for the inclusion of three leading spinners in their lineup to help them in winning the second match of the Series.
They have made four changes which include the inclusion of batter Kamran Ghulam for his first appearance.
Pakistan XI: Shan Masood (captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mahmood
England XI: Ben Stokes (captain), Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
