Pakistan captain Babar Azam was a dejected figure in the post-match press conference after his side lost the second Test of the three-match series in Multan to England by 26 runs and also gave them a 0-2 unassailable lead in the series.
Mark Wood’s four wickets and excellent bowling from James Anderson and Ollie Robinson broke the resistance of Saud Shakeel and other Pakistani batters who little by little tried to take their team closer to victory.
Shakeel was very close to his maiden Test ton when he was caught behind by Ollie Pope on 94 off Mark Wood. Shakeel, it seemed, knew he had edged the delivery. Wood led the England appeal and on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Marais Erasmus got together and had a chat before sending the decision to the third umpire.
The soft signal from the on-field officials was out. Third-umpire Joel Wilson had a long look at the replays even as the ball, at one point, looked like it had touched the ground. Another angle suggested that Ollie Pope had got his gloves wrapped around the ball.
With not much evidence to overturn the on-field umpire, Wilson gave Shakeel out and with him, Pakistan’s chances of winning the match diminished quite drastically.
Talking about the same in the press conference after the match, Babar Azam said: “The Shakeel dismissal cost us. It looked like to us as if the ball touched the ground. As a professional, you have to respect the umpire’s decision, but we felt the ball had been grounded.”
Babar Azam also admitted during the post-match presentation that Pakistan fell short with the bat in the first innings while lauding young leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed for his 11 wickets on his Test debut.
Babar said: "Yes, we were not up to the mark in the first innings. We had a couple of soft dismissals. After that, we had a fightback in the bowling and second innings we fight good, but unfortunately, we did not finish it. We have a simple plan to carry on the momentum, we had good partnerships between Imam and Saud and then Saud and Nawaz. The tail also fought well, but we didn't finish well. [Abrar Ahmed] Dream start for Abrar, he used conditions very well in the first innings and after that he bowled well. Good for him and the team. [Karachi] Looking forward to that and we will do our best."
The third and final Test will be played in Karachi from December 17 onwards.
