MULTAN
\nBold selection calls and a spin-friendly surface in Multan helped Pakistan end their winless home run with a series-levelling victory in the second Test against England on Friday.
\nPakistan\u2019s victory by 152 runs in a little over three days is their first at home since they beat South Africa in Rawalpindi in February 2021.
\nTheir first win under Shan Masood\u2019s captaincy also lifted some of the gloom that had descended on a team smarting from a 2-0 whitewash at home against Bangladesh.
\n\u201cThe first one (win) for me and long-awaited for the team is always special,\u201d said Shan. \u201cThis has come after some rough times and the boys stepped in after a lot has happened this past week.\u201d
\nThe captain, who like his team had been under fierce pressure in cricket-mad Pakistan, added: \u201cWe came up with a strategy to get 20 wickets and we made it happen. We were never afraid of taking risks. Three years and 11 months creates hunger, so it\u2019s good to win at home.\u201d
\nIt would not have been possible but for the bold calls Pakistan selectors took after England inflicted an innings defeat on them in the series opener also in Multan.
\nFollowing the shellacking, Pakistan took the drastic step of dropping batter Babar Azam and pacers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi, who have been off-colour in recent times.
\nMuch to their relief, the move paid off.
\nReplacing Babar, Kamran Ghulam impressed immediately smashing a terrific hundred in the first innings of his debut Test.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s never easy when you\u2019re replacing one of the best batters in the world,\u201d Shan said of Kamran, who was trolled on social media after his selection.
\n\u201cI read some things that were horrid, even before he played his first Test match. I can\u2019t even imagine the pressure that someone can be under. But we were all behind him and I think from the get-go, he seemed like he belonged.\u201d
\nPakistan\u2019s ploy to go with a spin-heavy attack, with Aamer Jamal the lone seam option, also paid dividends on a turning track at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
\nOff-spinner Sajid Khan and left-arm spinner Noman Ali wreaked havoc, completing the rare feat of sharing all 20 England wickets in a terrific display of spin bowling on an obliging surface.
\nOnly six other duos have ever done that in Test cricket, with Australians Dennis Lillee and Bob Massie the last to do so at Lord\u2019s in 1972. The last spinners to do so were England\u2019s Jim Laker and Tony Lock in 1956.
\nNoman grabbed 8-46 to finish with a match haul of 11 wickets and Sajid Khan took 2-93 to go with his 7-111 in the first innings as the pair wrapped up England\u2019s second innings for 144 after the visitors were set a daunting target of 297, bowling so well that Shan did not use a third bowler.
\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t played a lot of Test cricket in Multan, the only one we played was two years ago and that offered some spin,\u201d said Shan. \u201cNoman and Sajid are seasoned campaigners. So we thought, why not try something like that?\u201d
\nShan is hoping the heat will produce another spin-friendly wicket for the third and final Test in Rawalpindi next week.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s an autumn in Pakistan. There\u2019s a summer that runs transition into a winter, so we\u2019re still hoping that the sun can play its part and the wicket [for the third Test] can be on the drier side,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve seen it turned in Rawalpindi, that\u2019s another issue. We\u2019ll have a look, the groundsmen are already there, they\u2019re working on a Test match pitch and we\u2019ll try to create a good test wicket where both teams can pick up 20 wickets.\u201d
\n\u2018TOUGH ASK\u2019
\nEngland, who made 291 in their first innings, came into the fourth day firmly up against it after losing openers Zak Crawley (three) and Ben Duckett (nought) late on Thursday.
\nResuming at 36-2 on a reused pitch offering sharp spin, Ben Stokes\u2019 men managed to add just 108 runs before folding.
\n\u201cWhen Pakistan were ahead of the game they could really put their foot down,\u201d said the England skipper. \u201cIt was a tough ask for us, but the way we took the game on today was the only way we could win.
\n\u201cObviously Pakistan, the guys who got the sweep shots out, made it very difficult to control the run rate and set fields to. So when you get extreme conditions like that, you\u2019ve got to find a way to negate that spin, which I think we managed to do in some good parts.
\n\u201cWe would have liked to have gone on, especially myself and a couple of the guys who got starts, we might even be able to get closer, if not win the game.\u201d
\nIn just the second over of the day Sajid removed Ollie Pope with a sharp turning delivery and caught the miscued drive off his own bowling. Pope made 22.
\nNoman then trapped first-Test history-maker Joe Root leg-before for 18 and Harry Brook for 16 to leave England facing defeat at 78-5.
\nBrook smashed an epic 317 and Root a brilliant 262 \u2014 eclipsing Alastair Cook\u2019s England Test run record \u2014 in the first match, and their dismissals signalled England\u2019s demise was fast approaching.
\nNoman\u2019s fourth wicket came in the form of Jamie Smith, whose uppish slog sweep was held by Masood at mid-on. Smith scored six.
\nStokes and Brydon Carse fought hard to take the total to 125 when Stokes \u2014 whose 37 was the highest individual score for the tourists in the second innings \u2014 was stumped in a comical manner, jumping out of the crease to loft Noman but missing the ball as his bat flew out of his hands.
\nNoman wrapped up the match with the wickets of Carse (27), Jack Leach (one) and Shoaib Bashir (nought), improving his previous best of 7-70 against Sri Lanka in Colombo last year.
\nThe final Test is from October 24 and Stokes refused to look backwards or wonder what might have been.
\n\u201cNext week is going to be good. I\u2019m sure everyone\u2019s enjoyed watching here and back home,\u201d said the skipper. \u201cHop\u00adefully we can get a win next week and go home with another series win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MULTAN Bold selection calls and a spin-friendly surface in Multan helped Pakistan end their winless home run with a series-levelling victory in the second Test against England on Friday. Pakistan\u2019s victory by 152 runs in a little over three days is their first at home since they beat South Africa in Rawalpindi in February 2021. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-438306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n