Pakistan put up arguably their most impressive – and unarguably entertaining – performance of the tour on display on Friday to help the side script a remarkable turnaround at the end of third day’s play at Edgbaston. Led by half-centuries from Azan Awais, Shan Masood, Babar Azam and Razaullah, Pakistan ended the day’s play on 449 – the highest they have scored in the series.
As a result of the ninth-wicket century stand, the deficit was cleared in the post Tea session and Pakistan took the game to the fourth day with England set a target of 130.
Awais and Masood, the overnight batters who had already stitched the half-century stand, made a cautious start to the day’s play while Jofra Archer peppered them with some short-pitched deliveries. While Atkinson and Archer remained hard to put away, Josh Tongue provided ample scoring opportunities. Even as there was slight movement on offer, it wasn’t enough to trouble the batters. On either side of the drinks break, both the batters brought up their respective half-centuries.
The partnership came to an end rather abruptly, with the introduction of spin for the first time in the Test. Looking to glance Dan Lawrence’s delivery going down leg, he got a faint touch to the ‘keeper. Even as most of the close-in fielders didn’t seem excited and the umpire had ruled it not out, Joe Root got the decision reversed with a swift review.
However, Masood continued to keep Pakistan’s momentum going, and this time, he found the company of Babar Azam, the Pakistan skipper who hadn’t managed a double-digit score all through the series. The senior batters displayed fine application in their 89-run stand before Lawrence plucked a low one-handed catch at gully to end Masood’s stay five short of a century.
Babar was looking good in the middle for a good part of his stay. However, once England employed the short-ball tactic, the Pakistani skipper was tested, and eventually fell to it when he too looked well set for a century. While he survived a spell from Archer, he fell to a delivery down leg off Tongue. Seven overs later, Shakeel too fell for the same ploy, gloving the short ball to short leg while looking to fend it off.
The final session began with Pakistan trailing by only 23 runs, and five wickets in hand. However, before they could clear the deficit, England had struck thrice, sending back Saud Shakeel, Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran Randhawa. With only two wickets left, Pakistan went on the counter offensive led by Razaullah’s enterprising knock. The 21-year-old clubbed nine sixes – the most by a debutant – en route to his explosive 63-ball 81 before getting out stumped.
The carnage began early, when he smoked Gus Atkinson thrice over the ropes in one over. There was a brief period of slowing down, but then he muscled Jofra Archer over long off for a six to bring up his half-century. Mohammad Abbaas offered him much needed support from the other end. As the partnership flourished, Razaullah became more liberated to play his big shots. The duo added 121 runs for the ninth wicket, and helped Pakistan to a 119-run lead before Abbas fell to Tongue on 42.
Razaullah added 10 more runs to the team’s total before becoming Lawrence’s second victim of the innings, and the last batter to be dismissed.
Brief Scores: Pakistan 133 (Saud Shakeel 43, Mohammad Abbas 21; Josh Tongue 4-42, Ollie Robinson 3-15) & 449 (Shan Masood 95, Razaullah 81, Babar Azam 76; Gus Atkinson 3-109, Dan Lawrence 2-17) lead England 453 (Harry Brook 75, Jamie Smith 69; Razaullah 4-148) by 129 runs.
