Pakistan batsman Saud Shakeel plays a shot during the third Test against England in Rawalpindi on October 25, 2024.
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Spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali left England reeling at 24-3 after Saud Shakeel’s fighting hundred put Pakistan in control of the series-deciding third Test in Rawalpindi on Friday (October 25, 2024).

England came in looking to erase a deficit of 77 but had no answers for the Pakistan spinners on a turning pitch.

Sajid dismissed Ben Duckett for 12 and Noman Ali removed Zak Crawley (two) and Ollie Pope (one) in the space of five runs.

When bad light ended the second day’s play with five overs remaining, Joe Root and Harry Brook were at the crease on five and three respectively.

England still need 53 runs to avoid an innings defeat with seven wickets in hand and three days left to play.

The series is tied at 1-1 after England won the first Test by an innings and 47 runs while Pakistan took the second by 152 runs, both in Multan.

On another day dominated by spin, Shakeel’s brilliant 134 was the highlight, pulling Pakistan within touching distance of a first home Test series win since they defeated South Africa in February 2021.

Shakeel anchored Pakistan’s innings, lifting them from a precarious 177-7 to 344 all out.

“We had an idea that this pitch will help spinners so with that in mind I prepared myself,” said Shakeel, admitting it was one of his best knocks.

The left-hander held Pakistan’s innings together with a gritty knock spread over 322 minutes and 223 balls, hitting just five boundaries.

“A hundred is a hundred and it’s the best feeling and now we are in the best stage of the match.”

But leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who was the pick of the England bowlers, said his team had plenty of fight left.

“I think we are still quite positive with so much batting to come so we are still very positive in the changing room come tomorrow,” he said.

Ahmed took 4-66 while off-spinner Shoaib Bashir finished with 3-129.

Defiant Shakeel

The 29-year-old Shakeel defied England with an eighth wicket stand of 88 alongside Noman who made 45 before falling in the final over ahead of the tea break to spinner Bashir.

Shakeel added another 72 for the ninth wicket with Sajid who scored an unbeaten career-best 48.

Shakeel was finally caught off a miscued pull off pacer Gus Atkinson while Ahmed dismissed the last man Zahid Mahmood for nought.

The visitors looked to be in control when young spinner Ahmed bagged three quick wickets to leave Pakistan teetering at the end of the first session.

England were eyeing a lead after Ahmed’s burst left Pakistan on 187-7 at lunch but the Shakeel-Noman stand turned those expectations into frustration.

Shakeel batted with composure and reached his fourth Test hundred with a single off Rehan in a resistance-packed innings.

Noman — surviving a leg-before decision on review and a dropped catch off Root — assisted Shakeel admirably, hitting a six and two fours as the duo helped Pakistan add 80 in the second session.

Rehan sent Mohammad Rizwan (25), Salman Agha (one) and Aamer Jamal (14) back to the pavilion and threatened to derail Pakistan.

England’s frontline spinners Jack Leach and Bashir could not extract the same sharp turn from the pitch as rival Sajid Khan, who took 6-128 on Thursday.

Pakistan resumed the day at 73-3 in search of a sizeable lead to press for a series win.

But Shakeel was the only top=order batter able to build a meaningful innings after reaching double figures.

England players acknowledge the crowd after winning the first Test against Pakistan in Multan on October 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

England’s bowlers, led by spinner Jack Leach, tore through the Pakistan line-up to secure victory in the first Test in Multan on Friday (October 11, 2024) after a record partnership between Harry Brook and Joe Root turned the match on its head.

England’s attack made short work of the last four Pakistan batters on Day 5, dismissing the hosts for 220 to win by an innings and 47 runs and draw first blood in the three-match series.

The win is England’s fourth consecutive Test triumph on Pakistan soil, after a 3-0 whitewash two years ago. England had only won two away Tests against Pakistan in the previous 61 years.

It was also filled with several new milestones for England.

“This win would be right up there. Definitely top three,” said captain Ollie Pope, standing in for injured skipper Ben Stokes.

Brook smashed 317 and Root a record-setting 262 in England’s mammoth 823-7 declared, giving the visitors a 267-run lead and both players their highest Test scores.

Their 454, England’s highest-ever partnership for any wicket in Test cricket, also delivered an improbable advantage after Pakistan amassed an impressive 556 first-innings total.

Pope was full of praise for Brook and Root’s heroics.

“Credit to them for the skills and determination to put the team in a winning position,” he said.

By close of play on the fourth day on a lifeless pitch, England had posted the fourth-highest Test innings total of 823-7 and taken total control of the match with the hosts teetering at 152-6.

Along the way, Root became the highest run scorer for England in Test history.

England’s bowlers then delivered a dagger blow on a lifeless Multan pitch where the first 17 wickets fell for a mammoth 1,379 runs.

Towards the end of the fourth day, Pakistan were reeling at 82-6 before Salman Agha and Aamer Jamal came together for Pakistan’s only meaningful partnership.

The pair added 109 before Leach, who marshalled the attack with 4-30, provided the first breakthrough on the fifth day when he dislodged Salman for a fighting 63 and opened the floodgates.

Leach then took a smart return catch to get Shaheen Shah Afridi for ten and then had Naseem Shah stumped for six, wrapping up Pakistan’s second innings.

Last man Abrar Ahmed was unable to bat after being taken to hospital with a high fever.

“When you come out to bat again and you’re 260 runs behind and the pitch is three days older, it’s never easy,” said Pope of Pakistan’s second-innings predicament.

Pope also lauded the grit shown by England’s inexperienced attack.

“Our bowlers got the odd ball to reverse and spin,” he said of Gus Atkinson who took 2-46 and debutant Brydon Carse who finished with 2-66.

‘Can’t be more disappointing’

The loss continues a painful stretch for Pakistan and will compound the pressure on captain Shan Masood.

His tenure has begun with six consecutive defeats, including three in Australia and two at home at the hands of Bangladesh — the worst start for any Pakistan captain.

“It can’t be more disappointing than this,” said Masood. “Harsh reality is that England found a way to win after two days under the sun and 556 behind.

“Then they batted big and when they came back with the ball they had a plan and created a window of opportunity in the second innings so the harsh reality in Test cricket is no matter what the pitch quality side finds a way to win.”

The hosts have gone 11 Tests without a win on home grounds, their last win against South Africa came in February 2021.

The second Test starts at the same venue from Tuesday while the third is in Rawalpindi from October 24.

England’s Jamie Smith, center, and teammates celebrate after the dismissal of Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel, right, during the fourth day of the first test cricket match between Pakistan and England, in Multan, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

England is on the verge of a famous cricket victory after Harry Brook smashed the second-fastest triple century in history, Joe Root scored a career-best 262 and the tourists declared their first innings at an enormous 823-7 against Pakistan in the first Test on Thursday.

Pakistan, which scored 556 in its first innings, collapsed second time round to reach stumps on Day 4 at 152-6, needing another 115 runs to avoid an innings defeat.

It was the fourth time a Test team scored more than 800 runs — and the first time this century — as Yorkshire pair Brook and Root showed plenty of resilience and stamina to rewrite the record books in the heat of Multan.

Brook hit 317 off 322 balls and also raised England’s highest-ever partnership of 454 runs with Root for the fourth wicket, taking the team from 249-3 to 703-4 in a marathon stand.

Pakistan then crumbled with its top-order stumbling against the pace of Gus Atkinson (2-28) and Brydon Carse (2-39) after Chris Woakes had uprooted the off stump of Abdullah Shafique on the first ball of the innings.

England could have pressed for victory inside four days, but Shoaib Bashir dropped an easy chance from Aamer Jamal at deep backward square leg off Carse’s short delivery. One of Pakistan’s three first innings centurions, Salman Ali Agha was fighting a grim battle, unbeaten on 41, with Jamal not out on 27.

Brook and Root destroyed the home team bowling with six bowlers conceding over 100 runs for only the second time in test history on a flat wicket. Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed was hospitalized for fever and didn’t play on Day 4 but he had already cost 0-174.