Ben Stokes acknowledged that he had acted like 'a grumpy old man' as England faced defeat in the second Test in Multan, being bowled out for just 144 on a deteriorating pitch, resulting in a 152-run loss. This was a match where his team felt 'up against it from the toss.' The captain's frustration surfaced on Thursday when, as Pakistan's second innings was nearing its end, two straightforward chances to dismiss Salman Agha were missed. The batter capitalized on these errors, scoring over 50 runs and effectively sealing the game for Pakistan.

'In these subcontinent conditions, catches don't come along that often,' Stokes remarked. 'I actually apologized to the team last night because it's the first time in my captaincy that I've let my emotions about the game and how it was unfolding show with my body language. I take responsibility for that and I'm very annoyed with myself for letting that out. It's something I don't want to do or be seen to be doing, so I apologized. I was a tired, grumpy old man but you won't see that again.'

The match was played on the same pitch used for last week's opening Test, which, as it aged, presented what Stokes described as 'pretty extreme conditions.' Brendon McCullum, England's coach, noted that Jamie Smith was facing 'the most extreme wicketkeeping conditions you can come across.'

Stokes pointed out that the pitch's rapid deterioration on day two made the toss crucial to the game's outcome. However, he stated, 'I always call tails' and had no plans to change his tactics for the upcoming decider in Rawalpindi. 'If we had won the toss it could have been completely different. It was always going to be massive,' he said. 'It was always about batting first because the pitch was going to deteriorate. Me and Shan [Masood, the Pakistan captain] both knew that walking out there at 9.30am on Tuesday … When you come into a Test match and you know you're up against it from the toss, you've got to put all of that out of your head and go out there and play the game. I thought until today, we were always there.'

Pakistan secured their first home win since February 2021 thanks to Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, who became the first pair of spinners since Jim Laker and Tony Lock at Old Trafford in 1956 to take all 20 wickets in a game. Both were included in the squad amid several controversial changes for this match. 'A lot has happened over the last week, so for everyone to work together and come up with a strategy to take 20 wickets and make it happen, that's the most satisfying thing,' Masood said. 'It's special for everyone because it's come after some hard times.'

When asked if his team's tactics for this Test had been a risk, Masood replied, 'England take risks every day and they've shown the way. If you want to win Test matches you have to take risks.'

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