Stokes backs England's methods despite losing 8 for 108

This is the first time that England have lost in Pakistan under Ben Stokes' captaincy. But, the hosts had to make some controversial decisions to make it happen. The one that made headlines around the world was their decision to recycle the surface from the first Test, as the second Test was also to be played in Multan.

England were welcomed with industrial fans on both ends of the pitch when they arrived for training two days out of the second Test, as the hosts attempted to completely dry out the surface. They laid the pitch bare under scorching Multan sun throughout the two practice sessions in the lead up to the second Test.

It paid dividends for Pakistan as they secured a 152-run win over England.

"It was always going to be an interesting Test match, knowing we were going to be using a used pitch as day one was now effectively day six," Stokes said. "It played alright on day one and it wasn't until the end of day two where the dryness and the usage of the pitch really started to show. The guys who have had success with the bat were the ones who look to put a lot of pressure on the spinners. It was one of those where you had to find a way to negate the spin. It was an interesting Test match to watch. There was a lot happening and a lot going on. I am sure it was good viewing for everyone who turned up to watch not only here but on the TV as well."

England started Day 4 needing 261 runs with eight wickets in hand but were wrapped up in an hour and 45 minutes of play as Noman Ali recorded his and the best figures for the venue (eight for 46) by taking seven wickets. Noman picked up a wicket almost every second over after Sajid Khan removed Ollie Pope in the second over of the day, but England, staying true to their Bazball identity, swept and reverse swept the two spinners, hardly blocking anything.

Pakistan did not face much resistance from England, except for the 37-run partnership off 32 balls between Stokes and Brydon Carse (18 off 15), as they added only 108 runs on the fourth morning. Stokes's 37 off 36 was the best individual effort in the innings.

"It was always going to be a very, very tough task, but we obviously backed ourselves to chase that down and it was pretty evident of the way we had to go there and play," Stokes said. "It was a case of chasing the runs down as opposed to looking at how much tie we have left in the game. We built some really good partnerships and started to put the pressure back on Pakistan. I think the way in which we approached this run chase was exactly the right way to do it.

"Defending the ball was probably the hardest thing to do on that wicket. Everyone was treating a sweep shot like a defence, but it was a scoring option. When you are looking to play the cross bat shots, you have obviously got the chance of a dismissal but at least you are giving yourself a chance to score runs and when you are chasing down a total you give yourself the best chance of scoring runs."

England were 75 runs behind Pakistan in the first innings, but were dragged back into the game by Shoaib Bashir who took three quick wickets in the morning session on day three. When Jack Leach and Carse dismissed Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Rizwan, respectively, in the afternoon session, England held the game firmly. They, however, let it slip through their fingers when they dropped Salman Ali Agha twice in space of three balls. He went on to make 63 off 89 and by the close of the play had pushed England completely out of the game.

Those two drops - each of them regulation chances - from Jamie Smith and Joe Root drew animated reactions from Stokes for which he apologised to the team last night.

"I actually apologised to the group up there last night," Stokes said. "It's the first time in my captaincy that I've let my emotions show in my body language, with how I was feeling as the game was unfolding. I owned up to that, and I am very annoyed at myself for letting that out.

"It's something that I don't want to do, or be seen to be doing," he added. "No one means to drop catches, but it just proves how important catches are out in these subcontinent conditions, because they don't come along that often. So I apologised to the group and said that was poor of me. I was a tired and grumpy old man last night. You won't see that happen again."

Stokes returned to cricket in this Test nine weeks after he had sustained a hamstring injury while playing in The Hundred. He had built up his fitness on the sidelines of the first Test and there were questions whether he would be fit enough to bowl. The England captain sent down 10 overs - split equally across the two innings - and allaying the fears around his bowling fitness.

"I've worked so, so hard to get fit for this Test match, but nothing can prepare you for standing out on the field in hot weather," he said. "Training doesn't do that, so it was great to be able to get through this Test match, it fills me up nicely going into next week, and it was nice to get some overs under the belt as well. That was the one thing that I felt like I was lacking. But obviously, when you get into the game, and you feel like it's on the line, nothing can stop me from doing that."