Yasir Shah tormented England in the first Test at Lord's to lead Pakistan to a 75-run win over the hosts. However things changed drastically in the second Test. The leg spinner ended with figures of 1 for 266, the third-most expensive figures for Pakistan in a Test match, as England cantered to a massive series-leveling 330-run win in Manchester on Monday (July 25).
While appreciating Cook and Root for handling Shah well, Misbah conceded that Pakistan were below-par in all departments. "Cricket could just turn around like that. Full credit to England, they won a good toss. We were below average and need to improve in every department. We could not really build the pressure and we let them score a massive total in the first innings," he said.
"When he (Yasir Shah) used to bowl on the second and the third day, their seamers created rough and he could utilise that. Credit to Root and Cook for the way they played him. They were good in attack and defence. It's totally a different ball game when there are runs on the board, it creates pressure on the opposition against a world class spinner," Misbah said.
The England captain was lavish in his praise for Root, for his first-innings knock of 254, and acknowledged the plan was to play Shah a lot more straighter. "Joe's was an extraordinary innings but everyone batted well. It's about the individual how they want to play it," he said. "Yasir got a lot of LBW's and bowled at Lord's so we wanted to play him straighter. It's logical to get your best batsman to bat at three. That's as good an innings as I have seen."
England had James Anderson and Ben Stokes return to the Test fold after an injury lay-off. There was a minor blip in England's win when Stokes had to leave the field with a calf injury. Cook admitted Stokes' condition is a bit of a concern. "Jimmy's fine, a bit sore perhaps but fine. Stokesy looks in a bit of trouble though," Cook said.
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