For all the chaos that preceded this game Pakistan find themselves in control. It is not yet over but it has started to feel decided: England have never successfully chased more than 209 to win a Test in Asia and their target here is 297, the pursuit of which started in the final half-hour of the third day in the worst imaginable style.
Common sense suggested an attempt simply to see out the last 11 overs before stumps and regroup overnight, to protect wickets and with them hope. England lost both openers in the first four overs for a combined three runs. This is a team that defines itself by thumbing its nose at convention, with often intoxicating results, but sometimes the situation demands sobriety.
Ben Duckett, the first-innings centurion, lasted only two balls before swinging for the first time into his trademark sweep and top-edging high into the dimming sky, Mohammad Rizwan running a few paces to his right from behind the stumps to take the catch. Zak Crawley advanced to Noman Ali but was stumped both by the flight of the ball and – in due course – by Rizwan. From 11 for two Ollie Pope and Joe Root held out until the close as England ended on 36 for two, still 261 behind.
England will feel that an achievable target was within their grasp, but it slipped through their fingers along with the two straightforward catches that would have sent Salman Agha back to the dressing room for a single-figure score. Salman accepted those acts of charity and showed none of his own as he took the game away on his way to 63, while at the other end Sajid Khan continued his journey from entertainer to executioner.
Gradually England ran out of ideas and short of hope as the shadows lengthened and Pakistan’s lead did likewise. On a pitch now in its eighth day of use, and on which calm, controlled batting had begun to feel like a distant memory rather than an imminent prospect, the ninth-wicket partnership cracked the code. Salman and Sajid became Pakistan’s SAS; for England, it was SOS.
By the time Salman miscued a pull to Ben Stokes at midwicket deep into the final session they had put on 65 off 73 balls, scattering England’s field as they increased their ambition and the pace of their scoring without offering chances in return. Not since Root fell to Sajid the previous day, 16 wickets earlier, had any pair managed more than 37. Dropped on four and then on six, Salman’s score of 63 was just over double that of any of his teammates.
In the morning England nudged their overnight total from 239 for six to 291 all out, completing a miserable and match-defining collapse from being 211 for two on Wednesday afternoon. After the fall of their third wicket their last seven partnerships added (in turn) 13, one, nothing, 23, eight, six and finally 29. When that list is topped by Jack Leach – whose 25 at No 10 was the highest score outside the top four – and Shoaib Bashir you know you’re in trouble. Given the state of the pitch a first-innings deficit of 75 already looked daunting.
The irrepressible Sajid took three of the last four wickets to end with seven for 111, a tally the 31-year-old has beaten only once for all teams and in all formats across his career – he had claimed only three five-fers since 2021, two of which came during his stint playing for Walsden (and on one occasion for Clitheroe) in Lancashire this summer. His last three appearances before this game, all in the recently completed domestic one-day competition the President’s Cup, did not bring any wickets at all.
Pakistan’s second innings started with spin, and pressure, at both ends, and with their traditional flimsy opening partnership. Abdullah Shafique had scored four, and his team nine, when he got the thinnest of edges to a Bashir delivery as it headed down the leg side, picked up by UltraEdge on review. At least he and Saim Ayub had lifted their average as an opening pair, after 10 innings now, to 4.7.
When Shan Masood edged to second slip soon afterwards, with Pakistan’s lead exactly 100, England’s ambition of restricting their fourth-innings target to an obviously achievable level seemed to be, like those catches, in their grasp. Six more wickets fell without any batter inflicting irreparable damage, all but Aamer Jamal reaching at least 22 and none scoring more than 31. But just as the innings seemed to be drawing to a close England lost control of its progress, and lost their grip on their catches.
Bashir and Leach bowled most of the overs, but in the middle of the day England switched for a while to seam, and Brydon Carse responded with an excellent and scandalously under-rewarded five-over spell.
It started with him stopping Rizwan just as he accelerated his attempt to drive the game away from England, the third time he has dismissed Pakistan’s wicketkeeper in three innings. Root collected that catch at slip efficiently enough, but before long those hands, and his team, were losing their grip.
Soon after lunch Carse found Saud Shakeel’s edge, the ball flying high and fast to Root’s right, past him before he could react. If that chance was hard enough to barely qualify as one they would quickly get easier, and twice in an over Salman offered regulation catches off Carse. Jamie Smith somehow put down the first, Root at slip the second. The worst aspect of England’s position was their own part in creating it.
