Having losing to Pakistan by an innings and 152 runs, Ben Stokes revealed that his body language was not right when he lost his cool at his teammates for dropping catches in Multan. The England captain revealed he apologised to his teammates.
Speaking after the end of the day's play on Day 3, Stokes told broadcasters, "No one means to drop catches but it just proves how important catches are in these sub-continent conditions, they don't come along that often. I actually apologised to the group last night as it's the first time in my captaincy that I've let my emotions and how I was feeling with the way the game was unfolding show in my body language,"
Ben Stokes said "I actually apologised to my group last night. For the first time in my captaincy, my emotions came out" #PAKvENG#tapmad#DontStopStreamingpic.twitter.com/owMAh8oQal
— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) October 18, 2024
Stokes lost his calm over England's poor fielding effort in slips. Joe Root, dropped routine catches that proved decisive in the second Test. Ben Stokes was seen uttering the F-word on the field after fast bowler Brydon Carse took down Salman Ali Agha twice in an over. Both wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and Root made catches. Salman received reprieves while he was batting in single digits.
Pakistan ends drought of Test win at home
Chasing 297 runs to win on the fourth day, England was bundled for 144 runs in their second innings. Left arm spinner Noman Ali picked 8/46, completing 11 wickets in the Test. Sajid Khan added 2 wickets to his first innings haul of 7/111 and was named Player of the Match.
Pakistan ended a nearly four-year wait for a Test match win at home and leveled the ongoing series against England. It was England's first defeat in Pakistan in their last two tours. Under Stokes, England had blanked Pakistan 3-0.
Pakistan won the match after dropping big names from the team. Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah did not final a place in the squad for the second and third Tests.