Off-spinner Sajid Khan, playing his first Test in 10 months, spun a web around England to spark hopes of a spirited comeback from Pakistan in their second Test against England. Sajid Khan picked four wickets on Day 2 of the second Test as the battered hosts edged ahead in a gripping contest at the Multan Cricket Ground.
Sajid Khan and left-arm spinner Noman Ali made the best use of the dry surface in the final session to create some panic in the otherwise calm and composed England dressing room. 346 runs were scored and 11 wickets fell on what can be called the first evenly-fought day in the Test series.
Day 2 : Morning Session : Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali steer Pakistan past 350 at Lunch
The chaos of the closing overs was all a far cry from the more leisurely pace of the morning, in which Pakistan had resumed on a promising 259 for 5, on a surface that – while offering some turn and reverse swing – still had more in common with the road that had dished up 1599 runs in last week’s first Test.
In cooler, hazier conditions, the pitch seemed to have acquired an extra yard of pace for the day’s opening exchanges, which Carse utilized to superb effect. Mohammad Rizwan had added just four to his overnight 37 when he was beaten by extra lift, angled into his splice, and Smith behind the stumps reacted superbly to cling onto a fast-travelling chance.
It was due reward for an exemplary display from Carse, whose key wicket of Saud Shakeel on the first evening had also required him to extract some unlikely life from the surface. Agha then found some impetus with four fours through deep third, but Stokes, to his credit, refused to plug the gap in conventional style, instead choosing to add a gully to ramp up the risk-reward element to the stroke. Potts duly extracted some extra bounce, and Smith – for the third time in the innings – made a very sharp chance look simple.
When Sajid punched a drive on the up to short cover, Pakistan were in danger of another damaging subsidence at 309 for 8, but Jamal and Noman’s key stand of 49 for the ninth wicket helped pump the innings past 350. England picked up three wickets in the first session on Day 2 in Multan but Pakistan were helped by useful lower order contributions as they moved to 358/8 at Lunch. Pakistan scored 99 runs in the 27 overs bowled in the session, getting the runs at a rate of 3.66 an over.
England lost a review early in the morning session after Matthew Potts struck Mohammad Rizwan on the pad. The batter then struck a boundary through cover-point to enter the 40s. However, Rizwan’s outing ended soon after as Brydon Carse found the outside edge with a short of length delivery.
Agha Salman, who was on 6 off 29 at the time of Rizwan’s dismissal, changed gears as he struck a flurry of boundaries. He received good support from Aamer Jamal from the other end as the seventh-wicket pair built a steady partnership.
Salman used the field to his advantage as he guided a couple of Matthew Potts deliveries to the third man fence to help Pakistan past the 300 mark. But Potts had the last laugh as he got Salman to edge to the keeper with a delivery that had extra bounce, ending a 38-run stand. Soon after the drinks interval, Pakistan lost their eighth wicket as Sajid Khan was drawn into a drive by Jack Leach and ended up chipping the ball to cover.
Jamal then put away a couple of short balls from Potts for boundaries and was assisted by Noman Ali, who also hit fours regularly, in a useful ninth-wicket partnership that powered Pakistan past 350. They extended their partnership to 49 and both were unbeaten at the Lunch break, having scored nine fours between them.
Pakistan lost the overnight pair of Mohammad Rizwan (41) and Salman Ali Agha (31) before Jamal, who received treatment on his hip while batting, chipped away by adding 49 runs with Ali.
Day 2 : Post Lunch Session : Ben Duckett leads brisk England response to Pakistan’s 366
England were nevertheless deeply satisfied with their day-and-a-bit’s work when Leach wrapped things up with his fourth of the innings. But, as had been ordained when Masood won the toss, runs on the board will be critical in this contest. Right now, notwithstanding Duckett’s brilliant response, England don’t have enough of them.
Throughout his innings, however, there had been just the glimmer of the contest that could yet exist beneath the veneer of Duckett’s aggression. Zak Crawley’s innings was a case in point. With his preference for pace on the ball, he was far less assured against the spinners, and had two huge let-offs before finally snicking off to a loose drive outside off for 27, a decision Noman successfully reviewed.
Crawley should have been run out on 20 after being sent back on a quick single to backward square but Sajid broke the stumps before the ball had arrived, and five runs later, he was ready to walk after being struck on the pads while sweeping, again off Sajid. But Duckett persuaded him to review with the ball shown to be missing leg.
Ben Duckett’s quick half-century at the top helped England to 88/1 in 17 overs at Tea on the second day in Multan, in response to Pakistan’s 366 all out earlier in the afternoon session.
Soon after Jack Leach picked his fourth wicket and ended some lower-resistance from Pakistan, which saw the hosts add 57 runs for the last two wickets, Duckett came out and played aggressively from the get-go. Shan Masood was left juggling his fielders at deep midwicket and deep square leg to stop the flow of runs through the sweep shot but so good was Duckett at maneuvering the field that the runs kept flowing.
Pakistan’s lone pacer, Aamer Jamal, bowled just two overs at the start and gave way to spin from both ends. The openers added 73 runs before Zak Crawley edged behind to the keeper, his innings finally coming to an end after a run-out scare on a score of 20, which saw Sajid Khan disturb the stumps before the throw arrived to him. Crawley also got a lifeline when he was on 25, adjudged lbw in the middle before a review saved him.
Earlier in the morning session, England picked up three wickets but Pakistan scored 99 runs in the 27 overs bowled in the session. Mohammad Rizwan was the first to fall when Brydon Carse found the outside edge with a short of length delivery. Agha Salman, who was on 6 off 29 at the time of Rizwan’s dismissal, changed gears as he struck a flurry of boundaries. He received good support from Jamal from the other end as the seventh-wicket pair built a steady partnership.
Salman used the field to his advantage as he guided a couple of Matthew Potts deliveries to the third man fence to help Pakistan pass the 300 mark. But Potts had the last laugh as he got Salman to edge to the keeper with a delivery that had extra bounce, ending a 38-run stand. Soon after the drinks interval, Pakistan lost their eighth wicket as Sajid Khan was drawn into a drive by Jack Leach and ended up chipping the ball to cover.
Day 2 : Afternoon Session : Sajid Khan helps Pakistan reclaim ascendancy after rapid Duckett ton on Day 2
England were in control of the proceedings and racing ahead, having reached 211 for 2 in the final session. Ben Duckett was looking set for a daddy hundred after completing his fourth Test hundred while Joe Root, who smashed 262 in England’s innings and 42-run win in the first Test in Multan, was batting on 37, looking comfortable against the trio of Pakistan spinners.
However, Sajid Khan broke the solid partnership for the third wicket, removing Joe Root, who played one onto the stumps while trying to sweep the off-spinner from outside the line of the off-stump. Root’s wicket opened the floodgates as England lost four wickets for 28 runs, heading to close of play at 239 for 6 in 53 overs. Sajid Khan was using the dryness of the used pitch in Multan and imparting enough revolutions to get more bite than any other bowler in Multan.
Sajid Khan then removed Duckett, who paid the price for a rare lapse in concentration in the final session. Duckett went for an expansive drive and got a thick edge that was safely pouched by Agha Salman.in the same over, Harry Brook, who hit a triple hundred in the previous Test in Multan, was undone by a delivery that spun sharply from outside the off-stump. Brook stayed on the backfoot, trying to play the ball late. However, Brook was reminded that it was not the Multan pitch of last week as he bowled through the gates.
To add to England’s woes, Noman Ali got the big wicket of Ben Stokes towards the end of the day’s play. The England captain, who was playing his first Test in the series, was dismissed for 1. It was Noman who took the first wicket of the day when he snapped a 73-run opening partnership, getting the wicket of Zak Crawley.
Pakistan’s fielding was not up to the mark. Sajid Khan fluffed an easy opportunity to run Crawly out in the second session while wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan was far from impressive behind the wickets. However, Sajid and Noman made sure Pakistan were not made to pay heavily for their lack of tidiness on the field.
Duckett himself had a massive moment on 83 when Noman, by now bowling round the wicket to close off that full range of sweeps, beat his leg stump by a slenderest coat of varnish as Duckett instead wound into a reverse. He was twice clanged on the visor too as the ball bit and bounced out of the rough, and though he was disappointed to form part of the late collapse, the wonder in hindsight was how easy he had made it seem while the going was good.
After 12 overs, England had been hurtling along to 73 for 0. Midway through the 42nd, they were still bubbling nicely at 211 for 2, even after Sajid Khan’s ripper through the gate to Ollie Pope had hinted that this re-used surface was just beginning to heat up after seven days of action.
But 18 balls later still, their castle had crumbled to the tune of four wickets for 14 runs, with Sajid’s extraction of Joe Root – currently riding at a career-best high in the ICC rankings – being the moment that belief surged back into Pakistan’s cricket. If there was an element of good fortune in the ricocheting sweep shot that cannoned into Root’s off stump for 34, what followed might as well have been transcribed directly from the fever dream that had doubled as Pakistan’s pre-Test selection meeting.
With the first ball of his next over, Sajid Khan found another ripper that fizzed off Duckett’s outside edge to nestle in Salman Agha’s midriff at slip. Before the over was finished, he had the dangerous Harry Brook too, who had thumped the leg spinner Zahid Mahmood for two ominously emphatic fours in his brief stay but had no answer to a fizzing off break that ripped into his stumps from a full length.
Then, with Zahid put out to pasture once more, back came Sajid Khan’s fellow finger spinner, Noman Ali, whose second ball bit into Ben Stokes’ inside edge and ballooned to short leg, to extract the England captain for 1 from five balls in his first competitive innings since August. Jamie Smith and Brydon Carse endured to the close, but with the surface only heading in one direction now, parity is surely a pre-requisite if this match is not to slide further out of England’s control.
It was a stunning turnaround to cap an engrossing day of Test cricket, but even by Pakistan’s chaotic standards, the manner of their revival took the biscuit. Right up until the moment that everything clicked into place, their challenge had been falling apart.
Their troubles had seemingly begun before a ball was bowled, with Aamer Jamal – their lone seamer – sustaining a hip niggle during his doughty innings of 37 in the morning session. He contributed just six expensive overs across three spells, and with Shan Masood showing little faith in his leg spinner, Zahid, Duckett toyed with the finger spinners, utilizing his vast array of sweep options to drag their leg-side fielders in every conceivable direction.
He duly reached a brilliant century (with a sweep, of course) from a brisk 120 balls, but it was still, remarkably, the slowest of his four to date in Test cricket. In the process, he became the fastest man to reach 2000 Test runs, from 2293 balls – a niche stat maybe, but one which reflected the extent to which he has not only bought into but personified, England’s Bazball mantra since his recall for their last tour of Pakistan in December 2022.
Sajid Khan’s late four-wicket burst on Day 2 brought Pakistan roaring back into the contest in Multan, just when it seemed that England would once again take control of the match.
Responding to Pakistan’s 366 on a tiring pitch, England opener Ben Duckett did everything in his power to seize the initiative just like his team had done in the first Test last week. He scored his fourth Test hundred off only 120 balls, forged three half-century stands at a run-rate of roughly five an over, and left opposition captain Shan Masood scratching his head with his expertly placed sweep shots. But every time England looked comfortable in the middle during that eventful evening session, Sajid Khan’s off breaks pulled Pakistan back into the contest.
Sajid Khan found appreciable turn in the final session and struck in the first over of a new spell after Tea, producing a classic dismissal of Ollie Pope, who was bowled through the gate while attempting a drive. The spinner broke another fifty-run stand by dismissing Joe Root, who chopped on while trying to sweep from outside off-stump.
Centurion Ben Duckett fell in Sajid’s next over, edging a drive to slip, but the off-spinner’s finest delivery was perhaps reserved for Harry Brook. Later in the same over, Brook went back to punch through the covers but was beaten by sharp turn and bowled through the gate. Thanks to Sajid Khan’s spell, England slipped from 211/2 to 225/5 and found themselves in unfamiliar territory in Pakistan in recent times.
Until Sajid Khan turned the day on its head, England had called the shots. It all started when they picked three important wickets in the morning session. Mohammad Rizwan was the first to fall, nicking a short of length delivery from Brydon Carse. His dismissal saw Agha Salman, who was hitherto on 6 off 29, shift gears with a flurry of boundaries. He found solid support from Aamer Jamal at the other end, as the seventh-wicket pair helped Pakistan cross the 300-run mark.
The partnership came to an end when Matthew Potts extracted extra bounce from the pitch and got Salman to edge behind. Soon after the drinks interval, Sajid Khan was lured into a drive by Jack Leach and chipped the ball to cover, leaving Pakistan eight down. Pakistan’s innings came to an end as Noman Ali was caught in the deep, with Jack Leach claiming his fourth wicket.
England’s innings, in contrast, began like a freight train, with the visitors racing to 88 runs in just 17 overs by Tea. During the lackluster afternoon session, Pakistan made only one breakthrough in the form of Zak Crawley, breaking a 73-run opening stand. Crawley’s eventful innings came to an end when he edged an away-turning delivery from Noman, but he could have been runout on 20 had Sajid Khan not disturbed the stumps before the throw arrived to him.
Duckett and Root then settled into a nice rhythm but the narrative of course changed when Sajid Khan took matters into his own hands, bringing Pakistan back on even terms after a challenging six days in the series for the hosts.
Road Ahead on Day 3 for Pakistan and England.
Eventful final session – 36 overs | 151 runs | 5 wickets. Pakistan on top at the end of day two. In reply to Pakistan’s 366, England’s openers started on a positive note like they always do. Duckett was involved in three successive half-century stands. The left-handed opener employed sweeps and reverse-sweeps to great effect as he notched up his fourth Test ton. England were going at just over 5RPO but Sajid Khan turned the match on its head.
He got more turn after tea, bowled beautifully as he kept tossing it up outside off and it paid dividends. Despite getting swept by Pope, he persisted with that line to castle him through the gate. He removed Root with the same line as well who tried to sweep and dragged it onto the stumps.
He induced Duckett’s outside edge on multiple occasions and eventually had him caught at first slip on 114. And then cleaned up Brook – the triple-centurion from the previous game – with a sharp offie. Noman Ali too joined the party as he accounted for Stokes. England slipped from 211/2 to 225/6 – 14 runs and four wickets within a span of 18 balls. There was more bite in the second half of the final session and Sajid Khan in particular got significantly more spin. Expect batting to get tougher as the match progresses and England still trail by 127 runs.
Slowly, slowly… and then with the snap of resolve that vindicated every one of their seemingly half-baked plans, Pakistan roared into command in the second Test at Multan, transforming another day of dominant England batting with a trademark surge of wickets, the likes of which had eluded them throughout their dismal run of six Test losses in a row.
By the close, England were on the ropes at 239 for 6, still trailing by a substantial 127 despite battling hard to bowl their opponents out for 366 shortly after lunch. This was in spite of a brilliant fourth Test hundred from Ben Duckett that had, at one stage, been almost contemptuous in its dominance.
After 12 overs, England had been hurtling along to 73 for 0. Midway through the 42nd, they were still bubbling nicely at 211 for 2, even after Sajid Khan’s ripper through the gate to Ollie Pope had hinted that this re-used surface was just beginning to heat up after seven days of action.