England captain Ben Stokes seasons deductions to a highly amusing encounter with a Pakistani journalist who appeared to have been put on the spot even after Stokes explained trends in Pakistan’s 823 runs score in the First Test played in Multan. This took place on the eve of the third and which is the last Test match taking place in Rawalpindi. The frosty question conclusion appeared to leave Stokes in a state of complete wonder since the journalist made a dance attempting to speak in English to ask a question. He was trying to ask Stokes if it was possible for England to score the same 823 run total from the 1st Test in a match played in Rawalpindi.
After a couple of first failed attempts, the journalist finally succeeded to a get a comeback from Stokes, who did his best to liaise with the man and even told some of his words slowly.
“That would be nice,” Stokes replied after the reporter wondered if England could repeat such phenomenal figures on a pitch like the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, which is very much batting-friendly.
In another development, Africa captured the third test toss and elected to bat first. The England team is aiming to secure its second consecutive test series victory in Pakistan after recording a 3-0 win against the host team two years ago.
Pakistan leveled the series in Khulna last week after the new selection committee decided to sideline star batsman Babar Azam and fast bowler Shaheen Afridi.
In addition, Pakistan included the spin twins Sajid Khan and Noman Ali in an unchanged XI. The pair claimed all 20 wickets of England in Multan to keep Pakistan in the hunt for a memorable series victory.
In other news, England pacer Gus Atkinson has returned to the squad after being rested for the last match. Spin bowler Rehan Ahmed also returns to the squad and two visitors’ pacers, Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts, were omitted.
England XI: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Rehan Ahmed, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Shoaib Bashir