Pakistan vs England: Six key factors why Pakistan lost home series
England were forced to compete for victory, and they competed for it, just like in the first Test match, and by defeating Pakistan by 26 runs, England took the second Test and the series.
Key factors for Pakistan's loss:
1. The failure of Pakistan's pace attack should serve as a lesson in future Tests to avoid entering them without a functioning pace attack. In this Test, England pacers claimed 12 wickets while the Pakistan pacers failed to claim any. The Pakistani attack might have been different if Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Khan had been present.
2. England chose the right team: Playing Mark Wood on the flat field was a good idea. He dismissed Mohammad Nawaz and Saud Shakeel in the last moments of the fourth morning, which was the game-changer for England on a flat surface. He did so with his customary colossal heart.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You deserve this moment, <a href="https://twitter.com/MAWood33?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MAWood33</a> ❤️<br><br> Great to have you back in a Test shirt.<br><br>🇵🇰 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvENG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvENG</a> 🏴 <a href="https://t.co/U5qnaqnMHn">pic.twitter.com/U5qnaqnMHn</a></p>— England Cricket (@englandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1602238083512115200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
3. Mohammad Rizwan (10 and 30): His first innings performance lacked rhythm and took a long time to get going. Like Abdullah Shafique, he was undone by superb bowling in both innings, falling to an Anderson jaffa in the second after being inserted as an emergency opener from the number five spot.
4. Babar Azam (75 and 1): Bowled twice by Ollie Robinson in-nippers, once with a strong drive and once as he turned to go, commanded more assertively than Rawalpindi. It was a demonstration of the captain's knock's failure.
5. Ben Stokes' Captaincy: England have played nine games and won eight under Stokes' leadership.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">8️⃣ wins from 9️⃣ Tests under the coach and skipper 👏<br><br>We're on to something good.<br><br>🇵🇰 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvENG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvENG</a> 🏴 <a href="https://t.co/NGboizaTTF">pic.twitter.com/NGboizaTTF</a></p>— England Cricket (@englandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1602225498532319232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
6. Harry Brook (9 & 108): Brook scored a magnificent century in the second inning, showcasing all of his best qualities, especially his capacity to pull the spinner over the legside.
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