MULTAN: Bold selection calls and a spin-friendly surface in Multan helped Pakistan end their winless home run with a series-levelling victory in the second Test against England on Friday.

Pakistan’s victory by 152 runs in a little over three days is their first at home since they beat South Africa in Rawalpindi in February 2021.

Their first win under Shan Masood’s captaincy also lifted some of the gloom that had descended on a team smarting from a 2-0 whitewash at home against Bangladesh.

“The first one (win) for me and long-awaited for the team is always special,” said Shan. “This has come after some rough times and the boys stepped in after a lot has happened this past week.”

The captain, who like his team had been under fierce pressure in cricket-mad Pakistan, added: “We came up with a strategy to get 20 wickets and we made it happen. We were never afraid of taking risks. Three years and 11 months creates hunger, so it’s good to win at home.”

It would not have been possible but for the bold calls Pakistan selectors took after England inflicted an innings defeat on them in the series opener also in Multan.

Following the shellacking, Pakistan took the drastic step of dropping batter Babar Azam and pacers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi, who have been off-colour in recent times.

Much to their relief, the move paid off.

Replacing Babar, Kamran Ghulam impressed immediately smashing a terrific hundred in the first innings of his debut Test.

“It’s never easy when you’re replacing one of the best batters in the world,” Shan said of Kamran, who was trolled on social media after his selection.

“I read some things that were horrid, even before he played his first Test match. I can’t even imagine the pressure that someone can be under. But we were all behind him and I think from the get-go, he seemed like he belonged.”

Pakistan’s ploy to go with a spin-heavy attack, with Aamer Jamal the lone seam option, also paid dividends on a turning track at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Off-spinner Sajid Khan and left-arm spinner Noman Ali wreaked havoc, completing the rare feat of sharing all 20 England wickets in a terrific display of spin bowling on an obliging surface.

Only six other duos have ever done that in Test cricket, with Australians Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie the last to do so at Lord’s in 1972. The last spinners to do so were England’s Jim Laker and Tony Lock in 1956.

Noman grabbed 8-46 to finish with a match haul of 11 wickets and Sajid Khan took 2-93 to go with his 7-111 in the first innings as the pair wrapped up England’s second innings for 144 after the visitors were set a daunting target of 297, bowling so well that Shan did not use a third bowler.

“We haven’t played a lot of Test cricket in Multan, the only one we played was two years ago and that offered some spin,” said Shan. “Noman and Sajid are seasoned campaigners. So we thought, why not try something like that?”

Shan is hoping the heat will produce another spin-friendly wicket for the third and final Test in Rawalpindi next week.

“I don’t think there’s an autumn in Pakistan. There’s a summer that runs transition into a winter, so we’re still hoping that the sun can play its part and the wicket [for the third Test] can be on the drier side,” he said.

“I don’t know if I’ve seen it turned in Rawalpindi, that’s another issue. We’ll have a look, the groundsmen are already there, they’re working on a Test match pitch and we’ll try to create a good test wicket where both teams can pick up 20 wickets.”

‘TOUGH ASK’

England, who made 291 in their first innings, came into the fourth day firmly up against it after losing openers Zak Crawley (three) and Ben Duckett (nought) late on Thursday.

Resuming at 36-2 on a reused pitch offering sharp spin, Ben Stokes’ men managed to add just 108 runs before folding.

“When Pakistan were ahead of the game they could really put their foot down,” said the England skipper. “It was a tough ask for us, but the way we took the game on today was the only way we could win.

“Obviously Pakistan, the guys who got the sweep shots out, made it very difficult to control the run rate and set fields to. So when you get extreme conditions like that, you’ve got to find a way to negate that spin, which I think we managed to do in some good parts.

“We would have liked to have gone on, especially myself and a couple of the guys who got starts, we might even be able to get closer, if not win the game.”

In just the second over of the day Sajid removed Ollie Pope with a sharp turning delivery and caught the miscued drive off his own bowling. Pope made 22.

Noman then trapped first-Test history-maker Joe Root leg-before for 18 and Harry Brook for 16 to leave England facing defeat at 78-5.

Brook smashed an epic 317 and Root a brilliant 262 — eclipsing Alastair Cook’s England Test run record — in the first match, and their dismissals signalled England’s demise was fast approaching.

Noman’s fourth wicket came in the form of Jamie Smith, whose uppish slog sweep was held by Masood at mid-on. Smith scored six.

Stokes and Brydon Carse fought hard to take the total to 125 when Stokes — whose 37 was the highest individual score for the tourists in the second innings — was stumped in a comical manner, jumping out of the crease to loft Noman but missing the ball as his bat flew out of his hands.

Noman wrapped up the match with the wickets of Carse (27), Jack Leach (one) and Shoaib Bashir (nought), improving his previous best of 7-70 against Sri Lanka in Colombo last year.

The final Test is from October 24 and Stokes refused to look backwards or wonder what might have been.

“Next week is going to be good. I’m sure everyone’s enjoyed watching here and back home,” said the skipper. “Hop­efully we can get a win next week and go home with another series win.”

SCOREBOARD

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

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 291 (B. Duckett 114; Sajid Khan 7-111)

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings) 221 (Salman Ali Agha 63; S. Bashir 4-66, J. Leach 3-67)

ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 36-2):

Z. Crawley st Rizwan b Noman 3

B. Duckett c Rizwan b Sajid 0

O. Pope c&b Sajid 22

J. Root lbw Noman 18

H. Brook lbw Noman 16

B. Stokes st Rizwan b Noman 37

J. Smith c Shan b Noman 6

B. Carse c Salman b Noman 27

M. Potts not out 9

J. Leach c Abdullah b Noman 1

S. Bashir c Abdullah b Noman 0

EXTRAS: (B-3, LB-2) 5

TOTAL (all out, 33.3 overs) 144

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Duckett), 2-11 (Crawley), 3-37 (Pope), 4-55 (Root), 5-78 (Brook), 6-88 (Smith), 7-125 (Stokes), 8-138 (Carse), 9-144 (Leach)

BOWLING: Sajid 17-0-93-2, Noman 16.3-1-46-8

RESULT: Pakistan won by 152 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Sajid Khan

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024