England turned the tide on Pakistan on day 2 of the Multan test, dismissing the hosts 79 runs short of their first-innings score.
Pakistan began the day on 107/2 and looking to cut into England’s score with both Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel well set on 61 and 32 runs respectively. The two managed to add 35 runs to start the day before Ollie Robinson threw a wrench in their plans to dismiss Azam for 75 runs.
With their most prolific batter gone, the home side struggled mightily on a spinning track. Jack Leach used it to his advantage to dismiss Shakeel for 63 before removing Mohammad Rizwan shortly after for just 10.
Agha Salman (4), Mohammad Nawaz (1), Mohammad Ali (0) and Zahid Mehmood (0) were easily picked off as Ben Stokes’ men went in for the kill.
Faheem Ashraf (22) and Abrar Ahmed (7) managed to chip away at the lead for the last wicket adding 23 off 40 balls but the two ultimately had no chance of getting close to the target.
For England Leach finished with 4 wickets with Joe Root and Mark Wood taking two and James Anderson and Ollie Robinson picking one wicket each.
With two sessions still left on day 2 of the Multan test England are likely to continue with its all-out aggressive approach to put even more pressure on Pakistan.
With the wicket expected to deteriorate even more, a target of 300 and above could prove impossible for the home side to overcome especially with their fragile batting lineup.
England already leads the three-match series 1-0.
