MULTAN: Pakistan debutant Abrar Ahmed cast a spell over England Friday, grabbing seven wickets as the tourists were dismissed for 281 on the opening day of the second Test in Multan.

The 24-year-old — nicknamed “Harry Potter” by friends because he wears glasses similar to those of the fictional boy wizard — produced magic of his own to finish with 7-114.

In reply, Pakistan were 107-2 at the close, with skipper Babar Azam unbeaten on 61 and Saud Shakeel on 32, trailing by 174 runs.

Of the 12 wickets that fell on the day, James Anderson was the only fast bowler to dismiss a batter when he found an edge off Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq, who departed without scoring.

Abdullah Shafique scored 14 before edging spinner Jack Leach to keeper Ollie Pope, but Babar and Saud saw off the day with a third-wicket unbroken stand of 56.

“I will not forget this day,” Abrar told Sky Sports via an interpreter. “I want to win this match for Pakistan and also do well in the coming matches.” “I bowled cross-seam to start to see what was required. Variations were the key on this pitch.”

A bespectacled spinner mowing down the top half of England’s explosive batting line-up in the first session of his debut Test is hardly what visiting captain Ben Stokes would have expected after he won the toss and elected to bat.

Pakistan were already without pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi, ruled out of the series following an appendicitis surgery.

Their fast bowling resources were further depleted after Haris Rauf (thigh) and Naseem Shah (shoulder) suffered injuries in Rawalpindi along with top order batter Azhar Ali (finger).

Pakistan opted for a spin-heavy attack while rejigging the squad, picking Mohammad Ali as their lone specialist seamer sharing the new ball with all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.

Their three replacements included Abrar and the leg-spinner impressed immediately after being introduced into the attack in the ninth over.

The 24-year-old tasted success with his fifth delivery which he spun through the gate to dismiss Zak Crawley (19).

Ben Duckett (63), one of the four Englishmen to smash a hundred in Rawalpindi, raced to a 40-ball 50 before falling leg- before in an eventful Abrar over.

It began with Duckett using review to overturn an lbw decision against him and ended with Pakistan taking the same route to reverse a not-out decision and remove the opener.

The Abrar-review combination also accounted for the wicket of Joe Root (eight) on a forgettable day for the on-field umpires who had to reverse several of their decisions.

Ollie Pope used one such review to prolong his innings and went on to smash a run-a-ball 60 before playing one reverse sweep too many.

Abrar got his fifth when Harry Brook offered a skier which Mohammad Nawaz took at mid-off.

The flurry of wickets notwithstanding, England did not abandon their aggressive batting philosophy and raced to 180-5 at lunch, which is the most scored by any team in the first session on day one of a Test match.

When they returned after the break, Stokes (30) and Will Jacks (31) produced breezy cameos before both fell to Abrar.

Particularly impressive was the googly with which he bowled Stokes who was left open-mouthed by the dismissal.

“People do call me Harry Potter, but I am not a magician,” Abrar said. “I have done what is my job, and that is taking wickets.”

The moment of the match for him was the scalp of Stokes.

“My team-mates were telling me that usually it’s the first wicket that you cherish, but for me, Stokes’ wicket was the best.”

Abrar’s figures were the second-best on debut by a Pakistan bowler — behind pacer Mohammad Zahid’s 7-66 against New Zealand in Rawalpindi in 1996.

He is the 13th Pakistan bowler to take five or more wickets in an innings on debut.

Duckett said he hoped early wickets on Saturday would bring England back into the game.

“Ahmed bowled really well... it’s definitely spinning,” he said. “Hopefully we can take wickets in clusters tomorrow.”

The opener refused to call Abrar a ‘mystery’ spinner and said they would be better prepared to face him in the second innings.

“There was no real mystery to it but he bowled beautifully today,” the opener said. “I’m sure we’ll have our plans second innings but I’m pretty sure it won’t be blocking it.”—Agencies

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings):

Z. Crawley b Abrar 19

B. Duckett lbw b Abrar 63

O. Pope c Abdullah b Abrar 60

J. Root lbw b Abrar 8

H. Brook c Nawaz b Abrar 9

B. Stokes b Abrar 30

W. Jacks lbw b Abrar 31

O. Robinson c Nawaz b Zahid 5

M. Wood not out 36

J. Leach b Zahid 0

J. Anderson b Zahid 7

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-12) 13

TOTAL (all out, 51.4 overs) 281

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-38 (Crawley), 2-117 (Duckett), 3-145 (Root), 4-164 (Pope), 5-167 (Brook), 6-228 (Stokes), 7-231 (Jacks), 8-245 (Robinson), 9-245 (Leach)

BOWLING: Faheem 4-1-16-0, Ali 6-1-29-0, Abrar 22-1-114-7, Zahid 7.4-0-63-3, Nawaz 12-0-46-0

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):

Abdullah Shafique c Pope b Leach 14

Imam-ul-Haq c Pope b Anderson 0

Babar Azam not out 61

Saud Shakeel not out 32

TOTAL (for two wickets, 28 overs) 107

STILL TO BAT: Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Zahid Mahmood, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Ali

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-5 (Imam), 2-51 (Abdullah)

BOWLING: Anderson 2-0-4-1, Leach 12-3-44-1, Wood 4-0-20-0, Root 6-1-21-0, Jacks 4-0-18-0

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2022