MULTAN: Pakistan were in a strong position to win the second Test and level the series after removing both England openers on a tricky Multan pitch on Thursday with spinner Sajid Khan their hero.

The hosts set England a daunting target of 297 before Sajid dismissed Ben Duckett (nought) and fellow spinner Noman Ali had Zak Crawley (three) to leave England on 36-2 after a captivating day three.

Ollie Pope and Joe Root were unbeaten on 21 and 12 respectively with 261 still needed for victory and two days left.

Noman said cracks on the pitch — the same used in the first Test, which the visitors won by an innings — will make England’s task tougher.

“We are getting good spin from the rough patches as well as from the middle so it will be a tough chase and we will do everything to win this Test,” said Noman.

England assistant coach Paul Collingwood still believes that his fearless side can do “special thi­ngs” despite being up against it.

“It’s going to be a tough chase tomorrow on what is effectively probably the ninth day on that wicket,” said the former England all-rounder.

“Realistically it’s going to be a tough chase but this team’s capable of some special things, it’s got some batters in there who can put bowlers under pressure in these kinds of conditions.”

Salman Ali Agha, dropped twice early in his knock, smashed a belligerent 63 as Pakistan posted 221 all out in their second innings in the spin-dominated contest.

It left England substantial total to win the match and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-test series but their batters struggled against the turning ball on a track where spinners from both sides have done well.

England will expect vice captain Pope and batting mainstay Root to put their chase back on track when play resumes on Friday.

Earlier, Sajid claimed seven wickets as Pakistan bowled England out for 291 to grab a handy lead of 75 at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

England, resuming on 239-6, lost their remaining four wickets in the first hour.

Off-spinner Sajid dismissed Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts and Shoaib Bashir to finish with impressive figures of 7-111.

Left-arm spinner Noman claimed the remaining three as England lost all 10 wickets to Pakistan’s spin-heavy attack, which has Aamer Jamal as the lone seamer.

Recognising the nature of the track, England captain Ben Stokes began with spin from both ends, putting in off-spinner Bashir with left-arm spinner Jack Leach.

Stokes stayed with spin even when Leach had to be rested, pressing part-time off-spinner Root into service.

Bashir drew first blood when he had Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique caught behind for four. England successfully reviewed the original not-out decision and replays confirmed the faintest of edges.

Bashir (4-66) then dismissed Shan Masood for 11 after the Pakistan captain tried to flick a ball only to offer an edge to Pope at second slip.

Opener Saim Ayub (22) looked comfortable before falling to the same Pope-Bashir combination in the final delivery before the lunch break.

Kamran Ghulam, who smas­hed a hundred in the first innings of his debut test, made a fluent 26 before Leach trapped him lbw.

Carse dismissed Mohammad Rizwan for 23 but could only watch in horror as wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and slip fielder Root spilled regulation catches aft­er the seamer produced two edges in three deliveries from Salman.

Salman went on to add 65 runs with Sajid (22) for the ninth wicket before he was bounced out by Carse.

England stuttered early in their victory pursuit.

Duckett, who smashed a rapid hundred in the first innings, fell for a two-ball duck fluffing his sweep shot against Sajid.

Crawley (three) did not last long either and was stumped aft­er left-arm spinner Noman dec­e­ived him with a flighted delivery.

Root reverse-swept the final delivery of the day for a four to signal his intention of not letting the Pakistan spinners dictate terms.

Despite a rocky start in their chase, Collingwood said England had what it takes to win the Test and wrap up the series with a match to play.

But he cautioned: “We’ve got to be realistic, it’s a tough ask.”

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 366 (Kamran Ghulam 118, Saim Ayub 77; J. Leach 4-114, B. Carse 3-50)

ENGLAND (1st Innings, overnight 239-6):

Z. Crawley c Rizwan b Noman 27

B. Duckett c Salman b Sajid 114

O. Pope b Sajid 29

J. Root b Sajid 34

H. Brook b Sajid 9

B. Stokes c Abdullah b Noman 1

J. Smith c Saim b Noman 21

B. Carse c Saud b Sajid 4

M. Potts b Sajid 6

J. Leach not out 25

S. Bashir c Shan b Sajid 9

EXTRAS (B-7, LB-1, NB-4) 12

TOTAL (all out, 67.2 overs) 291

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-73 (Crawley), 2-125 (Pope), 3-211 (Root), 4-224 (Duckett), 5-225 (Brook), 6-225 (Stokes), 7-248 (Carse), 8-256 (Potts), 9-262 (Smith)

BOWLING: Aamer 6-0-39-0 (3nb); Sajid 26.2-1-111-7; Noman 28-5-101-3 (1nb); Zahid 6-0-27-0; Salman 1-0-5-0

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings):

Abdullah Shafique c Smith b Bashir 4

Saim Ayub c Pope b Bashir 22

Shan Masood c Pope b Bashir 11

Kamran Ghulam lbw Leach 26

Saud Shakeel lbw Leach 31

Mohammad Rizwan c Root b Carse 23

Salman Ali Agha c Stokes b Carse 63

Aamer Jamal b Leach 1

Noman Ali c Stokes b Bashir 1

Sajid Khan c Smith b Potts 22

Zahid Mehmood not out 0

EXTRAS (B-9, LB-5, NB-3) 17

TOTAL (all out, 59.2 overs) 221

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-9 (Abdullah), 2-25 (Shan), 3-43 (Saim), 4-77 (Kamran), 5-114 (Rizwan), 6-145 (Saud), 7-150 (Aamer), 8-156 (Noman), 9-221 (Salman)

BOWLING: Leach 17-3-67-3 (2nb); Bashir 19-0-66-4; Root 4-0-13-0; Carse 9-1-29-2 (1nb); Potts 5.2-0-19-1; Stokes 5-1-13-0

ENGLAND (2nd Innings):

Z. Crawley st Rizwan b Noman 3

B. Duckett c Rizwan b Sajid 0

O. Pope not out 21

J. Root not out 12

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for two wickets, 11 overs) 36

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Duckett), 2-11 Crawley

STILL TO BAT: H. Brook, B. Stokes, J. Smith, M. Potts, B. Carse, J. Leach, S. Bashir

BOWLING: Sajid 6-0-27-1; Noman 5-0-9-1

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2024