At the end of a breakneck opening day in Multan there was still only one story in town, Abrar Ahmed, a 24-year-old mystery spinner with the air of a junior accountant, announcing his arrival at Test level with a remarkable set of numbers on debut.
Pakistan had closed on 107 for two from 28 overs in reply to England’s slightly madcap 281 all out from 51.4, the kites gliding and swooping overhead as Babar Azam defied a 97mph peppering from Mark Wood and delivered a commanding 61 not out. For a crowd that swelled after Friday prayers, this knock was as sweet as the local jalebi.
Yet folks were also still computing what had earlier transpired, Abrar having claimed seven for 114 from 22 overs – including a five-wicket haul before lunch – with some collector’s items among them. When he bowled Ben Stokes for 30 with a beauty – the England captain’s face one of bewilderment – here was the latest reminder of the talent which bubbles up from the nursery of tape-ball cricket in this country.
Though Abrar rose through the domestic system, it was on the streets of Karachi where he first honed his craft, a mixture of leg-breaks and googlies that are flicked out from the front of the hand and through a strong middle finger. And with just his fifth ball in Test cricket the young spinner offered the first sign that England, so irresistible in Rawalpindi, may find things trickier 300 miles further south.
Zak Crawley was his initial mark here, negotiating the first four balls of the ninth over of the day with minimal fuss, only for Abrar’s next offering, a dipping, fizzy delivery from the fingertips, to scoot through a yawning gate and into the stumps. Babar, who usually gives little away, was visibly delighted at his new toy.
This delivery, plus the newly arrived Ollie Pope then reverse-sweeping his first ball for four en route to an enterprising 60, set the tone for two breathless sessions of Test cricket in which England batted to type and yet saw regular holes punched in the hull of the good ship “Bazball”. A dry, slow turner of a pitch – and a home attack selected accordingly – meant a genuine contest between bat and ball once Stokes won the toss.
“The sweep is my forward defence,” said Ben Duckett after stumps, the opener having raided 63 from 49 balls in a dizzying 10-over stand of 79 with Pope. And yet by virtue of the dip Abrar was finding, this defence was beaten twice in the 19th over, Duckett overturning an initial lbw decision thanks to a smidgeon of glove, only to still fall this way on review five balls later.
Umpiring was clearly something of a trial out in the middle, England’s array of switch hits and reverse sweeps in an innings of 32 fours and four sixes not helping messrs Marais Erasmus and Aleem Dar with their calibration. It took another smart review by Babar to dismiss Joe Root for eight, Abrar’s leg-break having pitched just in line before striking the right-hander on the back leg.
Pope’s demise for a frisky 60 required no such deliberation, a reverse-sweep top-edged to backward point, likewise Harry Brook holing out to give the newcomer his fifth. As Abrar beamed, the statisticians soon worked out that Alf Valentine, the great West Indian, was the only previous spinner to achieve this feat on the first morning of a debut. Old Trafford 1950 was the Test in question and England again the bamboozled.
Where the response back then was a doughty rearguard from Trevor Bailey and Godfrey Evans, Stokes and Will Jacks looked to go on the attack in the afternoon until Abrar added them to his stash. Stokes was undone propping forward, his seemingly solid defensive shot beaten by the googly, while Jacks, who cleared the rope twice in his 31, was another trapped lbw sweeping.
Abrar was enjoying a day as magical as the “Harry Potter” nickname bestowed to him by Paul Nixon, his English head coach at Sindh, and anticipation grew that he may become just the fourth bowler in history to claim all 10 wickets in a Test innings, joining Jim Laker, Anil Kumble and Ajaz Patel. Equally, no one could quite fathom why this year’s leading wicket-taker in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy did not play last week.
But the spell was broken at the other end by the leg-spinner Pakistan had initially preferred, Zahid Mahmood, mopping up the last three wickets.
It left Wood unbeaten on 36 after crashing eight fours and perhaps a more limited player like Jack Leach, bowled first ball reverse sweeping, should have looked to support him.
All 10 wickets had fallen to spin yet it was seam that delivered England’s first breakthrough after tea, Jimmy Anderson sending Imam-ul-Haq back to the pavilion that sports his uncle Inzamam’s name through some extra bounce. Leach also had Abdullah Shafique caught behind but once Babar had reached stumps with Saud Shakeel, there was only one bespectacled spinner the local media wanted to speak to.
“Yes, people do call me Harry Potter but I am not a magician,” said Abrar, modestly, as he reflected on an astonishing first day as a Test cricketer.
