Pakistan made an impressive start to their chase, bringing down to under 300 before lunch with the two openers – Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan – nullifying the England threat. Rizwan had a tough job at hand, having asked to open in place of injured Imam ul Haq and he managed to stay for 38 deliveries, scoring 28 balls, until lunch, before being left in complete disbelief by the genius that is James Anderson. And so brilliant was that delivery that even the commentators were left in absolute awe of the veteran bowler.
It happened four deliveries after lunch. Anderson resumed the proceedings for England with Rizwan at strike. In the fifth ball, Anderson dished out a seam-up delivery, angling into the batter. Rizwan was outside the off stump line and was ready to defend the ball, but it straightened up only slightly to just get past the edge of the bat and hit the top of off.
Rizwan was left shell shocked. He did not move from his position for a few seconds and looked at Anderson. It was an absolute jaffa from the England great. Rizwan then walked towards Shafique, had a few words and then walked off with a wry smile, having scored 30 off 43 balls.
It was the first wicket that fell for Pakistan on Day 3 after England set them a target of 355.
Resuming the third morning on 202 for five, England made a promising start with the sixth-wicket pair of Harry Brooks and Ben Stokes putting on a century stand and then continued frustrating the home side by clobbering sixes and boudaries. He was eventually dismissed for 41 while Abrar got rid of Ollie Robinson in the next over and England lower-order began to crumble subsequently.
England, who won the opening Test in Rawalpindi last week, finished with 275 runs in the second innings.
Trending Topics to Follow
