England need eight wickets on day five to complete a stunning Test match victory, while Pakistan require a further 263 runs after Ben Stokes made a brave declaration in an attempt to force a result on a lifeless Rawalpindi pitch.
When England arrived in Pakistan, coach Brendon McCullum vowed they would play "an entertaining style of cricket which hopefully ends up in results, whether that's in our favour or in Pakistan's favour".
And they certainly followed through on that promise, scoring runs at record-breaking speed, trying everything imaginable to take wickets and even giving Pakistan a genuine chance of winning with their declaration.
Having claimed four important wickets in the final session on day three to keep their chances of winning alive, England picked up where they left off on day four as Will Jacks took the remaining three wickets inside the first session to give England a first innings lead of 78 runs.
In response, England once again showed great intent with the bat as they tried to move the game forward, smashing 264 runs in 35.5 overs at a run-rate of 7.36. Zak Crawley set the tone with an excellent half-century, before Joe Root and Harry Brook took centre stage.
Root showed his class with an outstanding 73, while Brook was much more destructive as he struck 87 off 65 balls before getting bowled by Naseem Shah and triggering a bold declaration from Stokes. And after giving Pakistan a chance of winning, England could not have wished for a better start with the ball as Ollie Robinson and Stokes found success with a short-ball ploy.
First innings centurion Abdullah Shafique holed out off Robinson for just six, while Azhar Ali retired hurt just two balls later after getting struck on the hand. Stokes then took the massive wicket of opposite number Babar Azam, who was caught behind for four after helplessly fending at a short ball.
The wicket left Pakistan shell shocked at 25-2 in the sixth over, but Imam-ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel were able to regroup with an unbeaten 55 run partnership. And with Pakistan still scoring at four runs an over, fans look set for a fascinating final day's play with all results possible.
Here are five talking points...
Jacks takes six
Having only claimed four first-class wickets at the start of the year, Jacks has improved massively as an off-spinner under the tutelage of Gareth Batty at Surrey and he has now enjoyed an incredibly impressive Test debut.
The 24-year-old got through 40.3 overs in Pakistan's first innings and was rewarded with figures of 6-161. In doing so, Jacks became the first England spinner to a five wicket haul on Test debut since Adil Rashid picked up 5-64 against Pakistan in 2015.
He is also the first off-spinner to do so for England since Peter Such took 6-67 against Australia in 1993. And when he claimed his sixth wicket, it meant he had the best figures by an England debutant since James Kirtley claimed 6-34 against South Africa in 2003.
"Jacks was nervous in the beginning when he started his spell but once he got into his groove and rhythm, he got wickets," Pakistan legend Waqar Younis said on BBC Test Match Special. "It's a big achievement and congratulations to him."
Crawley's ridiculous Pakistan record
Remarkably, Crawley's 50 in the second innings is his lowest score against Pakistan in Test cricket with the opener now averaging a whopping 123 against them. Crawley's career average, meanwhile, is less than 30 and he only averages 21.72 against all other opposition.
Of course, Crawley struck his outstanding 267 against Pakistan at the Rose Bowl back in 2020, but he also scored 53 against them in the first innings and has now followed that up with scores of 122 and 50 in Rawalpindi.
"He's played extraordinarily well in this Test," former England spinner Alex Hartley said on BBC Test Match Special. "A hundred in the last innings and a fifty in this."
Root bats left-handed
In an extraordinary turn of events, Root decided to bat left-handed against spinner Zahid Mahmood to negate the rough he was aiming for outside the right-hander's leg-stump. It was an audacious move from Root and shows just how much confidence he is batting with now he is no longer captain.
Root looked like a broken man after England lost his final Test in charge against the West Indies in Grenada, but here we are less than nine months later watching a player who has reverse scooped seamers for six and decided to bat left-handed in a Test match.
"That is remarkable what I've just seen there," former England captain Nasser Hussain said. "Joe Root hasn't even bothered changing sides, he's just become a left-handed bat. Batting right-handed too easy for him. I mean how good does that look left-handed?"
Brook ups the ante
What a Test match Brook is having. The 23-year-old smashed England's fastest ever 150 in the first innings, breaking a record held by Stokes, and then flirted with breaking Gilbert Jessop's 120-year old record for the fastest Test hundred by an Englishman.
Although he fell 13 runs short of scoring a second century in just his third Test innings, Brook played a key role in allowing England to keep the game alive as he struck 87 off just 65 balls. Brook is a real star in the making for England fits Stokes and McCullum's philosophy perfectly.
England are hopeful he can become a mainstay in all three formats for many years to come and it will be incredibly interesting to see how this Test team lines up when Jonny Bairstow, the hero of the summer, returns from his broken leg.
Brave declaration and short-ball theory
After declaring and setting Pakistan 343 to win, Robinson and Stokes the new ball and opted to bowl primarily short. It was just the second time since 2009 that Anderson had not opened the bowling in a Test, but the decision paid dividends.
Robinson and Stokes both picked up big wickets with their short-pitched bowling, with Robinson dismissing Shafique and Stokes removing Babar. The tactic was also smart as it allowed to England to rough up the ball which should help the spinners and also allow the seamers to extract some reverse swing.
"A smart declaration that," was the verdict of Stuart Broad, missing this tour after fiance Mollie King gave birth to the couple's first child. "342 for Pakistan to win it. Very getable but to get wickets on this pitch you need the batter to take risks so need to dangle a carrot. Short ball theory is to get this ball scuffed up quickly while it's new because reverse is our major weapon".
