England’s 74-run victory over Pakistan in the opening Test in Rawalpindi on a track not having much assistance for bowlers will rank among their greatest away victories in the longest format, captain Ben Stokes said.

“It’s a great place to be in and I think it’s up there with one of England’s greatest away Test-match wins,” Stokes said at the post-match presentation.

“Jimmy Anderson said he was feeling very emotional trying to keep himself together. Having a bloke who has played nearly 180 (176) Test matches to feel like that at the end of this, I think we’ve achieved something very special this week.”

Since former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum took over the coaching reins, England have played a highly entertaining brand of Test cricket. Stokes, too, stressed the fact that his team would not be playing for draws.

“We wanted to come here in Pakistan and carry on with our mantra of exciting cricket, giving ourselves the best opportunity to win a Test,” the skipper said. “I have got no interest in playing for the draws. We always try to look at the positive option.”

Babar’s claim

Stokes’ counterpart Babar Azam claimed that Pakistan didn’t get the kind of pitch they wanted. The hosts had asked for a track favouring spinners, but it didn’t turn out to be so.

“Yes, my input was there in the preparation of the pitch and we were clear about what we wanted. But we didn’t get that because of the weather or whatever the reason was.

“We wanted a track with some turn for the spinners,” Babar said later at the news conference.

Shafali to lead

Calcutta: Opener Shafali Verma will lead India at the inaugural U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa next month. She and wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh will be the two senior India players at the event.

They were picked after the International Cricket Council confirmed their eligibility. Both have represented India at the senior level and the BCCI did not want any technical problems to crop up.

Shafali, 18, has played 69 Internationals (two Tests, 21 ODIs and 46 T20Is). Richa, 19, has played 42 Internationals (17 ODIs and 25 T20Is).

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