At risk of losing the first Test, England turned in a dramatic performance on Day 5 of the Rawalpindi meeting to secure a historic victory on Monday. With the ‘Bazzball’ in full swing, England scored 657 runs in the first innings before Pakistan were knocked out for 579. Ben Stokes & Co. then declared their innings at 264/7 in hopes of eliminating Pakistan. Although the move was a risky one, England joined Pakistan for 268 to round out the win by 74 runs.
England’s victory over Pakistan really set a new precedent, making the whole world see Test cricket in a whole new way. The win not only instilled England’s confidence in their approach to the oldest game format, but also caused fans to flood social media with memes.
Bazball defeated Kudrat ka Nizam #WTC23 #EngvsPak #PakvsEng #pkmkb pic.twitter.com/XKGCQZ1neC
— Vishal Sahu (@V13hal) December 5, 2022
It was ab/w England and Kudrat ka nizam at the end.. TAKE A BOOTEN ENGLAND Stokes u beauty #ENGvPAK #PAKvENG #rawalpinditest #TestCricket #Stokes #BazBall
— Vidyanshu Singh (@SinghVid07) December 5, 2022
This roll only yielded a result as Eng made 650 in 100 overs and stated he might risk a loss. Well played England, well led @benstokes38 @englandcricket #PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/pWbAH7vhWh
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) December 5, 2022
BazBall 1-0 Qudrat ka Nizam pic.twitter.com/flehtdp710
— Ixhan Mirza (@green_shirts33) December 5, 2022
500 in 1 day.
4 Centurion.#PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/6XxGNnPZQa— The Barmy Army of England (@TheBarmyArmy) December 1, 2022
Pakistan lost a match by 340 from 100 overs on a road pic.twitter.com/EfDMVPirrA
— retired ICT fan (@anubhav__tweets) December 5, 2022
Pakistani players to flat field #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/oPmWWl5KqE
— HITESH CHAUDHARY (@Modijivi) December 5, 2022
England captain Ben Stokes even called the team’s victory over Pakistan one of the greatest away test victories in the country’s history. At the post-match presentation ceremony, Stokes said he had ‘no interest’ in playing for a draw.
“Some things we can’t plan are what happened to the squad before the test. It seems like a long time since we were running around trying to find players for the test. Will Jacks gets the message three minutes before the throw and Pope gets the gloves. We played 8-9 games with myself and Brendon at the helm. One thing we try to do is focus on ourselves and not the opposition. We know we are a very exciting team. Was a great hitting surface, so it was an opportunity for our batting group. It was great to have the guys truck in like they did today. A really special group of players. We wanted to come here to Pakistan and continue our mantra of exciting cricket.
“I have no interest in playing for a draw, the dressing room has no interest in playing for a draw. Felt on this kind of wicket, I almost had to tempt the batsmen into an attacking shot. Today we were lucky to making the ball swing backwards. James Anderson and Ollie Robinson were fantastic today. We probably won about 8 minutes before we would have come loose. This is probably one of England’s greatest away wins,”said the England Test captain.
Given the nature of England’s results in Test cricket of late, it’s safe to say the ‘Bazzball’ is here to stay.
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