Pakistan skipper Babar Azam stated on Monday that the curator at the Rawalpindi Cricket ground took his inputs but never provided the track he had asked for as the hosts lost the first Test against England by 74 runs.

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Pakistan had been given a target of 343 runs in over 100 overs by England as part of a sporting declaration. However, the home team was dismissed for 268 runs on the last day. After England scored more than 500 runs on the first day and seven centuries were made in the first two innings, everyone criticised the pitch.

"Yes, my input was there in the preparation of the pitch, and we made it clear what we wanted, but we didn't get that because of the weather or whatever reason. But we wanted a track with some turn for the spinners," Babar told a post-match conference on Monday.

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The Pakistani captain complimented England for maintaining their upbeat attitude but also mildly criticised his bowlers for being errant.

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"We were expecting they would continue to play like that against us. I think it becomes difficult for a captain when your bowlers are not hitting the right areas and runs are being scored both sides of the wicket. But full credit to them the way they batted in both innings," he said.

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"It is never easy to comeback after the opposition scores 500 on the first day but I thought we batted well and came close to their total but in the second innings our batters didn't live up to the responsibility," he said.

Babar had no hesitations in admitting that letting go of such an opportunity to win a Test match was disappointing. "I thought we were very much in the match till after lunch today to win the match unfortunately we lost back to back wickets and that didn't help. But Anderson and Robinson bowled outstandingly well."

(With inputs from PTI)

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