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Pakistan's Azhar Ali raises his bat and helmet in celebration after scoring a century. -Photo by AFP
DUBAI: England were left to fight hard to save defeat and with it the humiliation of a first-ever series whitewash at the hands of Pakistan in the third and final Test at Dubai Stadium here on Sunday.
Needing to chase their second best achieved target in all Tests of 324, England finished the third day at 36-0, with openers Andrew Strauss (19) and Alastair Cook (15) playing out the tricky 20 overs on an eased out pitch.
They still need another 288 runs with all ten wickets intact in the last two days. England’s most successful chase to win a Test was the 332 they made against Australia in Melbourne in 1929.
Azhar Ali hit a career-best 157 and Younis Khan’s 127 in Pakistan’s second innings total of 365.
Pakistan could have got Cook’s wicket had Taufiq Umar not dropped an easy catch in the third slip off paceman Umar Gul when the England opener had made just four.
It will need an extraordinary effort from the England batsmen who lost the first Test here by ten wickets and the second by 72 runs in Abu Dhabi after their batting flopped against Pakistani spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman.
Both Pakistan spinners will test the England batting once again after Monty Panesar claimed 5-124 to finally bowl out rivals in their second innings on a pitch that saw 16 wickets fall on the first day.
Pakistan were bowled out for 99 in their first innings and can become the first team to win a Test after being bowled out for under 100 since England, dismissed for 76 in the first innings, beat South Africa by 53 runs at Leeds in 1907.
Ali said Pakistan can win the match.
“We are 100 percent confident of a win,” said Ali. “But having said that we have to take ten wickets and for that we look to our spinners who have done really well in the series.”
But spinner Graeme Swann hoped England can achieve the target.
“It could have been a tricky few overs for the openers but they played out and hopefully it’s a good chase tomorrow,” said Swann who praised Panesar for derailing the opponents.
Pakistan were well placed at 331-4 before losing their last seven wickets for a mere 34 runs following good bowling from Panesar and Swann, who finished with 3-101.
Pakistan owed their total to a brilliant career-best knock by Ali and Younis’s brilliance. Together they added 216 for the third wicket in a frustrating stand which almost plunged England into submission.
Ali became the ninth wicket to fall, when he gave a bat-pad catch to Cook at short-leg off Swann. He hit ten boundaries and six during his long stay at the crease which was seven minutes short of nine hours.
Ali’s previous best first class score was the 153 he made for Khan Research Laboratory against Sui Gas in Rawalpindi in 2009 while his best Test score of 100 came against Sri Lanka at the same venue in October last year.
Dropped on 84 by Swann in the slips off James Anderson, 26-year-old Ali hit Panesar for two boundaries in successive overs to reach the three-figure mark.
Resuming at 222-2, Pakistan lost Younis to a leg-before dismissal to Stuart Broad. Younis challenged Australian umpire Steve Davis’s decision but on review he had to leave the field.
Younis hit 12 boundaries and a six during his 221-ball knock.
Pakistan were 295-3 at lunch but lost cluster of wickets to Panesar, who trapped Misbah (31) and Asad Shafiq (five) to check Pakistan’s progress.
Panesar then bowled Adnan Akmal (nought) to further make inroads into Pakistan batting. From the other end Swann had Abdul Rehman (one) and Ajmal ((one) in successive overs and then wrapped up the innings by claiming Ali and Umar Gul (four).
What a historical victory by this Pakistani team , they truly deserved it . In past 1980 and 1990s we had real big players and big names , they couldn't done it anything like this what these youngsters have done it Bravo God bless you all keep up the hard , honest, winning attitude god will be with you.amin.
May the best team win on the day. Good luck to both teams. It has been a brilliant game with stunning play from Pakistan players.
Always happy to see a clean display of sportsmanship by the teams.
England and Pakistan match has turned out with almost the India and Pakistan match feel.
England has lost against the best team in the world with some incredible play from some players.
May God Bless our team all the way have a go pakistan just beat the world
Who says Test cricket is boring? We have witnessed quality stuff. Kudos to both teams for reviving the traditional galore of this game.
No rain No snow in UAE….bad luck
Result? they know
Although Pakistan team is in a commanding position but had it been a good knock of 60-70 runs by Misbah[who unfortunately played a dull inings with a strike rate of ~20}.Now it is time for Some quick response from Gul early in the morning.
Pakistan has played very well in 2nd innings as compared to their 1st innings poor score and gave a reasonable target to opponents. However, regretfully I will pen that neither of our batsmen except 2 century makers and captain Misbah could score otherwise England had real uphill task to surmount.
Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait
Very well done Pakistan. They are in excellent position to enforce a whitewash on english men.
The match must be won by the 'green-shirts' because they bowled out the same team in the first inning for 141.
On the other hand, England has to chase in the 4th inning a difficult and challenging total of 288 runs with all wickets in-tact.
At this crucial juncture in time and cricket history, Misbah-ul-Haq and associates must show the guts and the grit to bowl and field like champions as they did in the previous two matches to effect a white-wash on the top ICC ranked team in the world. If Monty Panesar can take five wickets in the second inning, then Abdur Rahman and Saeed Ajmal could even do better. Best of luck to Pakistani players and their bowlers and fielders.
Its nice to see some Pakistani batsmen performing so well according to the situation. Bravo to Azhar and Younis. Pakistan could have added 50 to 70 more runs to the total if last wicket did not fall so quickly. Pakistan has an edge in this test match. All depends on some early wickets in the first session tomorrow. Its test cricket at its peak.
inshallah ,,,,pakistan will win this match too and make a history n hit the record , inshallah
One again the Son of Pakistan created an opportunity for the ever-proud Pakistanis by his rare show of class and excellence. He fell to his knees to thank Almighty Allah once he marched past the milestone. This knock must have brought a lot of confidence in the making of this young contender under a hell of pressure. He came onto the crease continuing his lapsed astounding innings of 68 at Sheikh Zayed,Abu Dhabi stadium. Pakistan is proud enough to have the young talented blood in the Green Army in shape of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafique. Both of them when got together got the Barmy Army strayed their way into oblivion!!!!
we congratulate our Pakistani team and Nation for this unforgetable victory