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Pakistan reach 80/2 at Stumps on Day 4 in chase of a target of 343 to win the 1st Test

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What a golden opportunity for Pakistan to go 1 up

Go on Babar and boys!!
 
When is the next Ashes in Australia? It will be fascinating to watch thanks to England’s new approach.

Unlike the last three Australian Ashes, they will not turn up to be defeated. England will continue to play like this long after McCullum & Stokes are gone.
 
Brook is the best young batsman in the world, he will surpass the likes of Babar, Labuschagne etc. within a year or two across all formats.

Only Brevis can be at his level among the new generation of batsmen.

Better than Gill and Shaw?
 
I have no idea if this will pay off or lose them the match but bravo England.

They've stuck to their guns and made what would be an absolute horrific snorefest otherwise into a remarkable game. I'm genuinely impressed. Bazpressed.

I LOVE that they got together and looked at the pitch and said, "You know what, cricket can be better than this. What if we..."

An Oz team would have ground the opposition to dust over 17 excrutiating hours of batting in innings 1. But they say a great team acually changes the way the game is played...
 
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The real test starts now Eng have only won twice in 24 attempts at Pakistan proud history at stake
 
The class of Anderson will be the difference but the MOTM will be Jack's he will get a10fer
 
Shocking declaration. What is Stokes thinking ?
Imagine scoring so many runs at 7 rpo and still losing the match.
 
Is this even Test cricket anymore?

It was a big mistake to make flat tracks against Eng.
 
Any proud captain would easily go for this target given the nature of the pitch. But having seen Babar, he is so afraid of failure that he will shut up shop as soon as one wicket falls.

England would chase this target in 2 sessions.
 
I recon I’ll score a 50 on this track and help knock off 50 from this total

It’s a nothing track! We should get these runs!
 
Any proud captain would easily go for this target given the nature of the pitch. But having seen Babar, he is so afraid of failure that he will shut up shop as soon as one wicket falls.

England would chase this target in 2 sessions.

Him and Rizwan will not

Azhar is the weak link here
 
Nasser: Stokes might take the new ball

Sangakkara praised Brook's innings, after he hit 87 runs. "What I like about Brook, there doesn't seem to be much effort, he's just got so much power and balance.

"His hand speed is good, he hits the ball far with minimal effort. He knows how to construct an innings and score at a rate without taking risks.

Sangakkara thinks Babar Azam's wicket is key:

"They have got to target specific players, Getting Babar out early is crucial. It's going to be those key quick wickets," the former Sri Lanka captain said.

The new ball is vital, we might see a change of plan. They're going to use the short ball, the ball pitched up hasn't done a lot," Nasser added.

"They have an hour and halves play until the light closes is. Ben Stokes might take the new ball and use the short stuff as the enforcer."

Nasser added that he thinks the "most likely result is a draw".
 
Even the tail can wag and add 60-70 runs between them if needed
 
Stokes has been quite cocky throughout this game with zero respect for Pakistani bowlers

Let’s see if he has owned us throughout or ‘gharoor ka sarr neeche’

Time will tell
 
Great decision by England. 1-1, 0-1 result is much better than 0-0. Playing for draw must be considered as defeat as it is responsible for the demise of the game and kills interest of people
 
Respect to England and Stokes

They’ve made a game out of nothing really!
 
Pakistan need to get to close of play zero wickets down here.
 
Moderately risky declaration. Normally any chase over 300 on any surface you'd favour the bowling side. But the slowness of the pitch probably makes this much more risky.
 
There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Even if you take away 20 overs for bad light Pak will still have 110 to get 343 on a flat pitch. Pak with golden chance to win the match. Will be interesting to see how ENG will play in future if they lose this match.
 
Ridiculous pitch! No team should able to play like England have played in their two innings. This is a test match and when you try playing aggressive in test, you lose wickets. That's how tests should be. The bowlers helpless.
 
Daft declaration, surely Pakistan either win or draw if they lose wickets.

Even if England win, they have given Pakistan more of a chance to win than they needed to.
 
:))) dumbest move by Brendan and Stokes. This is a chaseable total on this pitch. Total buffoonery.

Pakistan can mess this up if they want, but they can chase this down by batting with their own pace.

WHat was the point of England playing this fast only to give Pakistan a score on a very flat wicket that can be chased down as there are enough overs and bowlers are getting nothing from the pitch.

What England needed was a higher total and for Pakistan to bat out. This is the issue with the England tactic. They can play fast, but they cant dictate how the opposition should play. Once they scored fast and Pakistan took its time to score, in the second innings, England was probably looking to get a target of 450 runs in lesser time so that Pakistan had two days to play where the carrot dangles on an easy wicket.
However, when wickets fell, England got exposed, and than just for the sake of result and entertainment they decided to declare because they were caught in a situation where the couldn't just go forward.

Anyways, this is gonna be fun now, England to get their 2nd defeated in last 8 games?
 
Moderately risky declaration. Normally any chase over 300 on any surface you'd favour the bowling side. But the slowness of the pitch probably makes this much more risky.

Pakistan have chased more than 300 hundred or close to that more than once and not long ago.
 
:))) dumbest move by Brendan and Stokes. This is a chaseable total on this pitch. Total buffoonery.

Pakistan can mess this up if they want, but they can chase this down by batting with their own pace.

WHat was the point of England playing this fast only to give Pakistan a score on a very flat wicket that can be chased down as there are enough overs and bowlers are getting nothing from the pitch.

What England needed was a higher total and for Pakistan to bat out. This is the issue with the England tactic. They can play fast, but they cant dictate how the opposition should play. Once they scored fast and Pakistan took its time to score, in the second innings, England was probably looking to get a target of 450 runs in lesser time so that Pakistan had two days to play where the carrot dangles on an easy wicket.
However, when wickets fell, England got exposed, and than just for the sake of result and entertainment they decided to declare because they were caught in a situation where the couldn't just go forward.

Anyways, this is gonna be fun now, England to get their 2nd defeated in last 8 games?

You said the same when Cummins declared on 3rd test then we know what happened.
 
England's ability to think on the fly and react instantly to in game changing situation is absolutely treat to watch.

They have seen zero swing, zero seam throughout the match so they change their plans and go short pitch bowling right from ball 1. Not even making their premier bowler Anderson bowl.

On the other hand Pakistan would've stuck to the same thought process and had the mindset of bowling full so that you can extract some swing.
 
Also I can bet that England would've never declared this soon if they were playing India or Australia on this pitch. It would've been a sure shot defeat for England.

But this is how lowly they think of Pakistan's batting that they declared so soon even knowing they really have 3 bowlers.
 
Eng have thrown the codes to crack the pitch, quadrat ka nizam and being on back foot after 600 score all out of window let's see
 
Also I can bet that England would've never declared this soon if they were playing India or Australia on this pitch. It would've been a sure shot defeat for England.

But this is how lowly they think of Pakistan's batting that they declared so soon even knowing they really have 3 bowlers.

did england told you this, or are making random assumptions?
 
Good opportunity for Babar and Rameez to silence all their critics here. All complaints and whinning regarding this pitch will look silly if Pakistan manages to win this match. :inti
 
This is why you dangle the carrot.

He would never play that shot in any other situation.
 
Brainless cricket..big defeat coming up..never ever seen a field set up like this and you go for it..have they heard of common sense
 
Shafique has some mental issues that need fixing. Blocking unnecessarily at international level is nonsense, when you can play at a decent strike rate at domestic level. Block, block, block then play an attacking stroke will never work as you will not be in the right frame of mind to attack.

This England bowling attack is barely better than a domestic team bowling line-up.
 
Good opportunity for Babar and Rameez to silence all their critics here. All complaints and whinning regarding this pitch will look silly if Pakistan manages to win this match. :inti

How will the critics look silly? Its not like Pak got Eng all out. ENG due to their bazball method declared the innings with a lot of time. In fact the criticism increases as ENg scored 260 at run rate of 7.5 on the 4th day which speaks volumes of the pitch.
 
If Pakistan score 3 runs in over they will win....they will no need to go for bazz ball or saq ball
 
Brainless cricket..big defeat coming up..never ever seen a field set up like this and you go for it..have they heard of common sense

You should go for it with full conviction not half hearted
 
Lol at Azhar walking off. Brittle useless passenger now really.
 
did england told you this, or are making random assumptions?

So did England tell you that they decided to declare because they got exposed as wickets fell or are you making assumptions?
 
For Pakistan’s sake Babar needs to come in at 3

Azhar is a poor tone setter
 
Pakistan are outdated in every department from MCG to rawalpindi it is evident better have restructuring at grass root level
 
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