Former cricketer Nasser Hussain believes England captain Ben Stokes is in a need of “bit of help” as the visitors stare towards an unprecedented series defeat against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
Leg spinners Rehan Ahmed ensured England’s surge with a three-wicket burst just before the stroke of lunch. The late effort from Rehan raised hopes of England taking a sizeable lead.
But Pakistan’s tail-end came to hurt England in their exploits, with the experienced spin duo Noman Ali and Sajid Khan wreaking havoc with the bat. Noman’s 45 and Sajid’s 48* rubbed salt on England’s fresh wounds before eventually bowling them out on 344.
“England’s struggles against the tail repeated themselves. It’s not just today or in this series, but in the last two or three years, they have struggled to get through tail-enders. Even when England have had pace, I think they’ve slightly lost the plot and gone just for a bouncer ploy. I’m not talking about here [in Rawalpindi] in these conditions, but even when they’ve had Mark Wood,” Hussain said as quoted from Sky Sports.
With their precise line and lengths, England had forced Pakistan’s back against the wall by reducing them to 155/6. However, from that point, England lost the plot, which allowed the hosts to mount a comeback.
“Sometimes they will bowl beautifully to the top order, and then, as soon as the tail-enders comes in, it’s bouncers right away, and they get hit everywhere. They do lose the plot a little bit. Stokes maybe puts so much energy into his captaincy, into the week of captaincy, he may just need a bit of help when England are seven or eight down,” Hussain added.
After taking lunch, Rehan, who had been on a roll, didn’t bowl a single over for the first eight overs. By the time he got the ball in his hand, Pakistan had already raced away from England’s grasp.
“There aren’t many senior bowlers around in this side, he may just need someone to drag him to one side and explain his reasoning. I was amazed Rehan Ahmed didn’t start after lunch. A wrist spinner who’d just got three-for before lunch. I’d have gone with the wrist spinner against the lower order,” Hussain added.
