Necessity is the mother of invention on the subcontinent and on a potentially pivotal third day, one on which Babar Azam peeled off a regal century but England hit back impressively late on, nothing summed this up more than Joe Root using the sweaty head of Jack Leach to shine the ball.
It was the type of creativity required on such a docile surface and after three sessions of toil from Ben Stokes and his players had been rewarded with an uplifting wickets column. Pakistan reached 499 for seven, still 158 in arrears after England’s record-breaking surge to 657 first up.
