"England have given Pakistan a reality check" - Salman Butt after consecutive defeat in the ongoing series
Former opener Salman Butt has stated that the Test series loss against England has served as a wake-up call for the Pakistan cricket team.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt pointed out how the Babar Azam-led side failed to give England a tough fight in the first two fixtures of the three-match series. He suggested that the visitors pocketed the rubber comfortably, without having to put in much effort.
He explained:
"England have given Pakistan a reality check, exposing them by showing them their place in Test cricket. The sad part is that England did not even have to play a painstaking match to win. They did not have to put in a lot of effort. It has been a one-sided affair, with them winning fairly easily."
England completed a stunning 26-run victory over Babar Azam and Co. in Multan to gain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the red-ball series, with the home team failing to chase down a total of 355.
"Out of the 40 wickets, England gave us 32–33 themselves" - Salman Butt critical of Pakistan's bowling
Butt further went on to say that the hosts have been fairly underwhelming with the ball in the Test series, having been unsuccessful in posing a strong challenge to the English batters.
He claimed singled-out mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed as the only bowler to have picked wickets due to his abilities. Butt opined that all the other wickets fell because of England's attacking approach.
The former Pakistan captain added:
"If you assess Pakistan's performance in an honest manner, only Abrar Ahmed's wickets were the ones that they took. Then there was one that Haris Rauf took.
"Apart from that, all the other wickets came due to England's intent and attacking approach. Out of the 40 wickets, England gave us 32–33 themselves, and we can only take credit for the remaining ones."
Abrar Ahmed's dream debut 😍
He becomes just the second Pakistan bowler to take a ten-wicket match haul on debut 😮
#PAKvENG | #WTC23 | bit.ly/PAKvENG-Test2 https://t.co/h1fTJmLMlL
Ahmed was unarguably the pick of the bowlers for the hosts in the fixture. The crafty spinner made a significant impact on his Test debut, bagging 11 wickets.