MULTAN – Sajid Khan and Noman Ali snapped the England openers late on day three as the visitors require 261 more runs to win the second Test match in Multan, finishing with 36-2 in 11 overs in pursuit of the 297-run target at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Ben Duckett (two-ball duck) and Zak Crawley (3, 8b), were the batters dismissed in the last hour of the day to leave England reeling at 11-2 before Joe Root (12 not out, 26b, 1×4) and Ollie Pope (21 not out, 30b, 2x4s) took their team to the close of play unscathed.
At the start of an eventful day, Pakistan took the remaining four England wickets for just 52 runs, when they resumed from their overnight score of 239-6 in 53 overs.
Sajid finished with figures of 7-111 in 26.2 overs, his second Test five-wicket haul and the best bowling figures in an innings at the venue. He was backed up by Noman, who bagged three wickets for 101 runs in 28 overs.
After wrapping up England’s first innings in 67.2 overs for 291, Pakistan built on their first-innings lead of 75 to post 221 all out in 59.2 overs, setting England 297 runs to win the Test and the three-match series.
Salman Ali Agha, batting at N0.7, contributed with a valuable 63 off 89 balls hitting five fours and one six after having walked in to bat at 114-5. Salman and Sajid (22, 43b, 1×4) came together when Pakistan were struggling at 156-8 with 231 runs ahead, the duo put on a vital 65-run ninth-wicket stand to propel their team to a formidable lead nearing 300.
England struck at regular intervals to dent Pakistan’s progress in the second innings but useful middle-order contributions from Saud Shakeel (31, 51b, 2x4s), Kamran Ghulam (26, 39b, 5x4s) and Mohammad Rizwan (23, 43b, 2x4s) made sure to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Shoaib Bashir was the pick of England’s bowlers as he bagged 4-66 in 19 overs while Jack Leach picked up three wickets. Brydon Carse dismissed two batters while Matthew Potts accounted for one wicket.
