England Test captain Ben Stokes acknowledged the spin duo of Noman Ali and Sajid Khan that powered Pakistan to a drought-ending Test series victory at home.
Pakistan’s decision to make four massive changes after the first Test thrashing paid off as their spin duo of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, coming in as Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah’s replacement, gave a new life to the struggling hosts.
The spin duo claimed 39 out of 40 England wickets to fall in the remaining two Tests, coupled with handy and timely cameos to further traumatize the touring side.
Their mastery of spin steered Pakistan to their first home Test series victory since 2021.
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The spin duo also received words of acknowledgement from England captain Ben Stokes, who termed them too good to tackle by his aggressive batting lineup, which racked up a humongous total of 823/7d in the first innings of the opening Test against Pakistan.
“You’ve got to hold your hands up to say that those two in particular were obviously too good for our batting line-up in those last two games,” Stokes said.
“Credit to Noman and Sajid, the way in which they bowled in the second Test match and in this game, you know it was very good and challenging,” he added.
Reacting to the series defeat, Ben Stokes shared that it is hurtful and disappointing to lose games for England before highlighting the need for consistency.
“Losing games for England hurts so it’s disappointing,” said Stokes.
“We need to do things for longer. As I said, we did good things in very small amounts of times at certain points throughout the second game and this game.
“But when you don’t sustain that, you know you’re always going to start falling away.”
READ: Babar, Shaheen react to Pakistan’s drought-ending Test series win