England secured a brilliant 74-run win over Pakistan in the historic three-match Test series in Rawalpindi on the last day on December 05 (Monday). Courtesy of some exceptional captaincy by Ben Stokes, who manoeuvred his bowling options on a dull pitch without any bounce to perfection as the Englishmen broke Pakistan's resilience in the final hour of Day 5 to take a 1-0 lead upon their return to the Asian nation after 17 years.
Pakistan went into the final innings of the match with a target of 343 runs but were only able to get to 268 with less than 15 minutes left in the day’s play. This came after skipper Stokes took the bold choice of declaring at 343 the day before, showing his confidence in his team's bowling unit.
This unit was led by Ollie Robinson (4 for 50) and James Anderson (4 for 36) who shook off their first-innings blues to reduce their opponents to just 268 runs.
The defeat came as a major blow to Pakistan, not just because they now trail 0-1 in the three-match series, but also because their chances of making it to the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) suffered a major blow. What it did is bolstered India's chances of qualifying for the finals.
Before the Test match, the Men in Green were stationed in fifth place on the WTC points table. They are still fifth after the loss but the defeat has widened the window for India and Australia to make a final push to make the finals.
| Position | TEAM | PCT (%) | Points | Matches Won | Matches Lost | Matches Drawn |
| 1 | Australia | 72.73 | 96 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | South Africa | 60 | 72 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | Sri Lanka | 53.33 | 64 | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 | India | 52.08 | 75 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 46.67 | 56 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | West Indies | 45 | 54 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | England | 41.67 | 100 | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 25.93 | 28 | 2 | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 13.33 | 16 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
India needs to whitewash Bangladesh in the upcoming Test series and then back it up with a solid performance against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series at home. If Rohit Sharma's men whitewash Bangladesh then they don't necessarily have to win all the matches against the Baggy Greens. They can afford to lose one game and still their chances of making the WTC final would be quite possible.
