Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum insist England have no regrets about their aggressive approach to the chase despite suffering a resounding defeat to Pakistan in the second Test.

The visitors believed in another record-breaking fightback from their captain and coach’s regime at the start of the fourth day, but were soundly beaten – they were out for just 144 before lunch, with a 152-run defeat leveling the three-match series .

Pakistan bowled exclusively spin – and only two bowlers (Noman 8-46, Sajid 2-93) – on a revolving Multan pitch on the ‘ninth day’, but England stuck to the method that marked the Bazball era for their fourth innings embodied has been littered with wickets resulting from aggressive shots.

But Stokes, who was England’s top scorer with 37 from 36 balls and was sent off when he went down and lost his bat, says style is the “only way” to have a chance.

“Obviously it would be a huge task for us because there is so much going on in the wicket,” England’s captain said Sky Sports Cricket. “We knew that as individuals and as a batting unit we had to approach it with one method in order to reach a total of (297).”

“I think if you look at the guys who had success in that Test match, like Ben Duckett (114 in the first innings), they were the guys who tried to put pressure on the spin by basically putting their spin down Brooms out and did a lot of reverse sweeps.”, a lot of sweeps.

“It was incredibly difficult conditions to go through. You always felt like there was a ball with your name on it – I was standing at slip when bowling and as soon as a batter tried to defend, you felt like that was massively in the game.

“For us it was about reaching that total – but 200 would have been difficult to achieve on this pitch.”

“The way we approached the game today was the only way we could get a win.”

McCullum echoed Stokes’ comments, claiming other routes were “almost impossible”.

“290, on a surface on the ninth day against spinners who know how to bowl in those conditions, was always going to be a difficult feat. “The method of sweeping and reverse sweeping and trying to put some pressure on the opponent was really the only way,” the coach said.

“We didn’t manage to get there using that method and we lost a few wickets, but we saw in this Test that if you tried to stay in, it was almost impossible to stay.”

The crucial third test will take place live in Rawalpindi Sky Sports Cricket from Thursday, October 24th.

“No problems with the space”

Ultimately, it was no surprise that the Multan pitch started crashing and spinning at one point, but while England stressed how crucial the toss was, they said they had no issues with the controversial decision to play it in back-to-back Tests.

“I don’t mind it actually – I quite like the quirkiness of it,” McCullum said. “When you play at home, you should have home advantage.

“I guess after the first friendly we were able to take a 1-0 lead, something had to give and they got it under control. I have no problem with it at all.”

Stokes added: “It was always going to be a big one. We arrived here on the Day Six pitch before a ball had been thrown, but we felt like we were still in the game and could chase it.”

“You have to give Pakistan credit for the way they played, they got a good result. At the end of the second day we lost a couple of quick wickets and that’s when I thought the pitch reacted completely differently. When you said “If we are ahead like Pakistan, we can really step on the gas.”

“Tired, grumpy old man,” Stokes apologized to the team

Although England’s defeat on Friday morning was staggering, the game arguably fell apart on the third day when two missed shots in an overplay proved costly and Salman Agha (63) eventually took Pakistan to a strong target.

Stokes nodded that the drops were crucial and revealed he had apologized to his team after becoming visibly frustrated on the field during that time.

“Nobody has any intention of dropping catches but it just proves how important catches are in these conditions in the subcontinent. They don’t come around that often,” Stokes explained Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain and Ian Ward.

“I actually apologized to the team last night because you are right. It is the first time in my captaincy that I have expressed my emotions and the way I felt throughout the game through my body language.”

“I admitted that and was very upset about letting it out. This is something I don’t want to do or be seen as, so I apologized to the group for it.”

“Poor old man, I was a tired, grumpy old man last night! It won’t happen to you again.”

Sky Sports pundits on England’s heavy defeat

Wet Hussain
“I thought we’d be here after lunch, but you knew there was only one way they were going to play: They were going to play shots. England live by the sword and die by the sword, they would never try.” Once you get a score and the tailenders go up against that quality spin, you’re always going to be in trouble.

“There was always a chance (that the game would end quickly) on this pitch with the heat on it on the ninth day.”

“About the second day of that game, that changed. Even when Duckett scored that incredible 100 points, there were balls he was throwing that bounced up and hit him in the shoulder. It was just masked by the fact that he played so well.”

“Since then spin has absolutely dominated and today, after they lost one or two, you could see that it was always going to be very hard work to launch against that ball and get it to spin and bounce.”

Michael Atherton
“It is a big moment for Pakistan, a proud nation that has been winless for a long, long time.

“Well done to her. Their effort really paid off… They put their chips all in on spin and shared the 20 wickets.”

“It will boost cricket here and certainly it will give a boost to this team and their captain – Shan Masood was on a six-Test losing streak. This will buy him a little time.”

“Whether they can replicate these conditions for the third Test in Rawalpindi will be fascinating.”

First test: Multan – 7th-11th October – England won by an innings and 47 runs

Second test: Multan – 15th-19th October – Pakistan won by 152 runs

Third test: Rawalpindi – 24th-28th October

Watch the third and final Test between Pakistan and England live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event from 5:30am ahead of first ball on Thursday October 24 at 6am when the teams travel to Rawalpindi.