Pakistan have exposed England: Hussain slams team’s outings on spinning tracks

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has criticised Ben Stokes’ England.

After their 1-2 loss against Pakistan. England, despite being 1-0 up in the Test match, were rolled over by Pakistan after they decided to play on rank turners in the last two Test matches of the series. Hussain slammed the England side and said that the batting unit of the team had been exposed after flat tracks were taken away from them. Speaking on Sky Sports, Hussain raised concerns over the qualities of certain batters in the Test side, including that of Ben Stokes – the England captain.

“Congratulations to Pakistan to making that change, they lost six Tests in a row, the fans and supporters were not happy. Different pitches and selectors and they found the kryptonite to Bazball. They have spinners of the highest quality and they have players that play spin really well. It’s exposed England when the ball does spin. When it spins and it’s gripping, England don’t play spin or bowl spin as good as Pakistan,” Nasser Hussain said on Sky Sports.

“There should be a discrepancy because the pitches have been so different from the first Test to the second and third. There’s no doubting that scores should go down and spinners should go up. But, discrepancy in the England side is a concern. It shouldn’t be so drastic that you play so well on flat pitches and you can hit through the line but the moment it grips you can’t play like that and so then you’re lost,” he further added.

“And three of your top six seem to be lost. I’m talking about [Zak] Crawley when it grips and you have to work it into areas like Saud Shakeel did. Or Stokes in Asia, his last ten scores are very low in these conditions. He used to be our best player of spin but in these conditions when it’s gripping a bit, he seems a bit lost.” Hussain criticised specific England batters after their series defeat against Pakistan.

On Saturday, Pakistan ended their long wait of winning a Test series on home soil after beating Ben Stokes’ England 2-1 in the two-match series. Shan Masood could finally heave a sigh of relief as he now has a series win under his belt as captain after initially losing six Test matches in a row since taking over from Babar Azam last year. The last time Pakistan won a home Test series was back in February 2021 against South Africa.

Pakistan beat the Three Lions by nine wickets in Rawalpindi and made a comeback after going 1-0 down with an innings defeat in the series opener. Saud Shakeel, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali were the architects of the series ever since they joined the playing XI after Pakistan rung in a host of changes to their team, dropping the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam, and others.

As far as England are concerned, they lost the plot completely after being asked to play on spin-friendly tracks. After losing three early wickets in their second innings of the Rawalpindi Test, they could not recover and were bowled out for 112 in 37.2 overs. Noman and Sajid picked up 19 wickets in the match and 39 wickets in the series to rout the visitors.

After taking four wickets in the second innings, Sajid also became the first spinner to take a 10-wicket haul in a Test match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Noman was incredible as well, taking six wickets in the second innings. Joe Root and Harry Brook built a 46-run stand for the fourth wicket, but apart from that there was nothing to write home about England’s batting.