England captain Ben Stokes was left scratching his head after a Pakistani journalist struggled to frame a question around the visitors’ 823-run total from the first Test in Multan. The incident happened on the eve of the third and decisive Test in Rawalpindi. The journalist made a hilarious attempt to frame a question in English, leaving Stokes completely bemused. He wanted to ask Stokes whether or not England can replicate their 823-run total from the 1st Test in the series decider at Rawalpindi.
After a couple of failed attempts, the journalist finally managed to a get a response from Stokes, who did his best to communicate with the man despite the language barrier.
“That would be nice,” Stokes responded after the journalist asked him if England can replicate their mammoth total on a batting-friendly track at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
— (@salehhh1997) October 23, 2024
Meanwhile, Stokes won the toss and opted to bat in the series decider. England are chasing a second successive Test series win in Pakistan, following their 3-0 routing of the hosts two years back.
Pakistan levelled the series in Multan last week after star batter Babar Azam and pacer Shaheen Afridi were dropped from the team by the new selection committee.
Pakistan named an unchanged XI consisting of spin-twins Sajid Khan and Noman Ali. The duo took all 20 English wickets in Multan to put Pakistan in contention of a series win.
Meanwhile, England recalled pacer Gus Atkinson after resting him for the second game. Spinner Rehan Ahmed also makes a return with the visitors dropping Durham pacer Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts.
Pakistan XI: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (capt), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Sajid Khan, Noman Ali, Zahid Mehmood
England XI: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jamie Smith (wk), 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Rehan Ahmed, 10 Jack Leach, 11 Shoaib Bashir.
