Pakistan finally ended the drought of home test series win after three and a half years. Sajid Khan and Noman Ali took all the 10 wickets in the second innings as the spinners continued to haunt English batsmen. England put in a poor display of batting and only managed to set a target of just 36 runs for Pakistan in the fourth innings.
After Saim Ayub’s dismissal, Shan Masood struck five boundaries in six balls, sending Shoaib Bashir’s deliveries over the ropes to secure an emphatic victory, marking his first series win as captain. Since his appointment last year, the Pakistan captain had lost his previous two series in charge 3-0 in Australia and 2-0 in Bangladesh.
England started the day at 24-3 and were bowled in 37.2 overs for their lowest total in Pakistan. England’s previous lowest total was 130 in Lahore in 1987. Noman achieved figures of 6-42, while Sajid took 4-69.
On the opening day of the third test match in Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi England won the toss and chose to bat first. England started off well with 50 50-run opening partnership, at the last ball of the 14th over Pakistan got their first breakthrough as Noman Ali took Zak Crawley’s wicket. Sajid Khan continued to dominate the English batting lineup as he took Ollie Pope and Joe Root cheaply.
After Ben Stokes’s wicket England were 118-6 then Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson stepped up and put on a solid partnership of 107 runs till Ali got the wicket of Atkinson as he went into the shot too early. Ben Duckett(52) and Jamie Smith(89) were the highest run scorers for England in the first innings. For Pakistan Sajid Khan was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 6-128. England posted 267 runs on board in the first innings.
Coming into bat, Pakistan lost their first wicket on 35 runs. Saud Shakeel got into 50+ partnerships with the Skipper Shan Masood and wicket-keeper batter Mohammed Rizwan.
Pakistan were struggling at 177-7 in 58 overs then Saud Shakeel put up a decent partnership of 88 runs and 72 runs with Noman and Sajid respectively. Saud batted brilliantly on the difficult surface, he expertly handled the English spinners on the turning pitch, attacking when necessary to build his innings. He was Pakistan’s top run scorer in the first innings (134). Rehan Ahmed 4-66 was the leading wicket-taker for England. Pakistan led England by 77 runs which gave them an advantage over England.
After the match, the English skipper Ben Stokes said: “The last two games, we had some challenges thrown at us and a good way to reflect on it is that we weren’t able to stand up to those challenges. When that happens, you’re probably going to fall on the wrong side of the result – and that is what’s happened.”
On the other hand, speaking during the post-match ceremony, Shan Masood said “First Test win came after a long time, now the series win. This means a lot for me, the players, the coaches and the management – they came through a lot. The character says a lot, this is a special moment and you can’t take this off the team.”
The first test of the series was played at Multan cricket stadium where England dominated Pakistan, winning the match by an innings and 47 runs. Harry Brook was declared Man Of The Match for his brilliant 317 runs. Joe Root scored 262 runs in the first innings of the first match.
Following their humiliating loss in Multan Pakistan made big changes in the squad dropping their star batter Babar Azam and their front-line bowlers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi. Azam was replaced by Kamran Ghulam, who scored a ton on his debut.
In the second test in Multan Pakistan turned things around and they won the second test match by 152 runs leveling the series 1-1. Sajid Khan was awarded Man Of The Match for his brilliant performance with the ball.
Then in the final test, Pakistan secured an easy victory on day 3, winning by nine wickets in Rawalpindi as skipper Shan Masood clinched his first series victory.
Next up Pakistan will play 3ODIs and 3T20Is in Australia starting 4th November 2024 and England will play 3 ODI and 5 T20s in West Indies starting 31st October 2024.
Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
