Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar on Monday (December 5) expressed his disappointment at Pakistan’s performance in the opening Test against England.

On a flat Rawalpindi track, the Test match was heading towards a draw before England made a brave declaration in their second innings at 264/7, setting a target of 343 for the hosts, who were bowled out for 268 minutes before the close of play on Day 5.

With this 74-run defeat, Pakistan conceded a 1-0 lead to England in the three-match Test series.

“Pakistan did not even take the chance which were availed to them. England gave them a chance to save the Test match but Pakistan did not take it,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel.

“There’s a difference in mindset. The situation where England declared yesterday, would Pakistan have done the same? They wouldn’t have. Their coach McCullam said that they’ll play a run a ball in Test cricket. They won’t go for draws. Joe Root said they want to save Test Cricket. If you have this mindset and intent, what do you think will be the result? Even with 7 wickets in hand, Pakistan did not have the intent to win the match. They made the wicket in order to draw. If this is your intent, what do you think, we’ll be heading towards?,” he added.

In the fourth innings, Ollie Robinson (4-36) and James Anderson (4-50) starred with the ball for England, picking four wickets each.

“It’s very disappointing. England made the effort to make this Test match interesting. They gave Pakistan a chance to avoid a draw. You (Pakistan) play well and win. 350 in this wicket is not a big deal. You have already scored 150. I did not see any intent or capability. No disrespect to the youngsters. Naseem Shah, you played well. But England deserve to win. No questions about it,” Akhtar further remarked.

Earlier, the tourists racked up a mammoth 657/10 in their first innings with four batters namely Harry Brook (153), Zak Crawley (122), Ben Duckett (107) and Ollie Pope (108) smashing centuries.

Pakistan responded by scoring 579/10 with three of their batters – Abdullah Shafique (114), Imam-ul-Haq (121) and Babar Azam (136) – slamming hundreds.

However, the home team’s batting wasn’t up to the mark in the final innings as no batter managed to hit a century. Saud Shakeel was the top scorer with 76.