BUMBLE ON THE TEST

PITCH PERFECT FOR BABAR

THERE has been a massive reaction on social media from both sets of supporters about this Rawalpindi pitch, saying it simply isn’t acceptable. Make no mistake: it is what Pakistan captain Babar Azam told the curator he wanted. He let that slip over the weekend. But full marks to the players because they have made the best of it.

BEN THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET

ONCE England made 657, Pakistan had to stay in the Test and they did that really well. But then Ben Stokes laid down the gauntlet with a declaration that put the onus on the hosts and said, ‘It’s your pitch, over to you’. There were many who would have batted into the fifth morning if they were Stokes! But he said, ‘Let’s have a game’.

...OVER TO YOU, PAKISTAN

SO, will Pakistan go for it on the final day? We will see but I know what I would do — try everything to win. There is a white-hot football World Cup going on and everyone is glued to it. The bigger picture is cricket is in competition with that — that is why Stokes and England were spot on in giving Pakistan four sessions to get 343.