It's the first time I'll ever be playing on a used pitch in a Test series: Stokes

England's returning captain Ben Stokes believes that Pakistan's decision to @L0$ for the second Multan Test will 'bring a lot more into the game for both teams' and that it made the decision of his return 'a little bit easier'.

Many observers - most prominent of them being Kevin Pietersen - had sarcastically called for re-using the pitch for the second match after it remained unresponsive to the bowlers through four-and-a-half days of the opening game. England posted an outrageous 823 for 7 in 150 overs in reply to Pakistan's 556 in 149 overs before rolling the hosts over for 220 to win the match by an innings and 47 runs.

Some decade-old records tumbled throughout the match, but the one that will sting Pakistan the most is that they became the first-ever team in over 150 years of Test cricket history to be beaten by an innings after scoring more than 500 in the first innings.

In response, Pakistan have made drastic changes - spurred by the newly inducted members of the selection committee, which was named minutes after Pakistan's defeat on Friday - by altering the conditions and squad as their last ditch attempt to level the series and, more importantly, arrest a humiliating decline that Pakistan's Test side finds itself on. They have now lost six consecutive Tests and not won at home since February 2021.

When Stokes on Monday was asked to share his thoughts on Pakistan's decision to re-use the same strip, he said: "I think if we went 1-0 down at the home, we would probably be going to our groundsman saying 'can we have a bit more of this, bit more of that' to use our home advantage in our favour. If you look at the way that first Test played out, if another like that was produced maybe it would have given us more of an advantage just because of the way that we take the game on and how we play it.

"Using a used pitch brings a lot more into the game for both teams, actually. So, if it does spin more, if it does reverse more, there's more options there for both teams. It could be a tactic, but I am not sure. I have never seen a used pitch before used in back to back games, and I have also never seen fans that big standing as umpires."

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The big fans that Stokes referred to were industrial fans that the Multan Cricket Stadium's groundstaff had put on each end to dry out the surface after watering it in the morning. Pakistan laid out clear instructions to their head curator, Tony Hemming, to prepare a surface on which the ball turns from day one, which demanded relatively less moisture levels in the pitch. The groundstaff laid the pitch bare until late afternoon on Monday so it continues to bake under scorching Multan heat, depriving it of any moisture that may hold the pitch together.

"It's the first time I will ever be playing on a used pitch in a Test series. I think we could sit here and say 'it's going to do this, it's going to do that', but who knows? You'd like to think it's going to offer the spinners a bit more than it did last week with it being used and hot. It is a slightly drier square so you might see a little more reverse swing which will bring seamers into the game.

"We will have to wait and see what happens."

One seamer that England would be overjoyed to see come into play is Stokes himself. He will be returning to action two months after sustaining a hamstring injury. Stokes has been vocal about his intentions to not to rush back into the game, considering the high chances of recurrence that such injuries carry and has built up his fitness on the sidelines of the first Multan Test with regular net sessions.

"I have worked really hard on other parts of my fitness while I was injured," he said. "I've had a fair few injuries. It is a part of what we do, part of how I play cricket, and my role. Injuries are frustrating but I like to keep a positive mindset. The thing that allows me to do that is telling myself, 'when you get back on the field make sure you're fitter than you were when you got injured'.

"Not only do I have a goal of getting my body back into a state of being able to play, but I also have an individual goal of making sure I'm physically fitter than when I got injured. It keeps me on track and keeps me positive throughout injuries, which are obviously frustrating.

"I am obviously playing as a third seamer. To be honest, playing on a used wicket sort of made the decision a little bit easier. But, you like to think that this is going to spin a bit more. We have got two workhorses in the team in Carsey [Brydon Carse] and Pottsy [Matt Potts] who are just going to keep going and going and going. But, I am available to bowl and obviously when I sense the time is right for me to maybe come on and make an impact there will not be any doubts in my mind that I can come on and bowl.

"You would like to think it might be a bit more in favour of the spin, hence playing on a used pitch made the decision a little bit easier."

England have now won four consecutive Tests in Pakistan after their last week's victory. They handed Pakistan their first-ever whitewash at home with a 3-0 sweep in December 2022 with Stokes in charge.

While England will be hoping that this series ends in a similar fashion, their next step towards achieving that is leaving Multan with a 2-0 scoreline.