Shakeel puts Pakistan in charge of deciding Test

Third Test, Rawalpindi (day two of five)

England 267 (Smith 89, Duckett 52; Sajid 6-128) & 24-3 (Noman 2-9)

Pakistan 344 (Shakeel 134, Sajid 48*; Ahmed 4-66)

Pakistan lead by 53 runs

Scorecard

A masterful century from Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel and late wickets from the spinners put England in huge danger after two days of the deciding Test in Rawalpindi.

Shakeel’s watchful 134, helped by lower-order partnerships with Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, pulled Pakistan up to 344, an unlikely lead of 77.

Sajid and Noman then combined to remove Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope to leave England 24-3, 53 behind.

The home side were in huge trouble at 177-7 when Rehan Ahmed took three wickets in the morning session.

But number nine Noman made a gritty 45 in an eighth-wicket stand of 88 with Shakeel that roasted England across the afternoon.

Even after Noman was lbw to Shoaib Bashir, Sajid arrived to cause chaos, clubbing 48 not out to add another 72 with Shakeel.

As the light faded, England were given around 40 minutes to bat, desperate to get to the weekend unscathed.

Instead, they were again tormented by Noman and Sajid and will begin Saturday far away from a total that could win the match and series.

If this was the decisive day in the series, then all credit should go to Shakeel, who played an innings reminiscent of the late Graham Thorpe. England must also be sick of Noman and Sajid, who revitalised Pakistan with their wickets and have now played crucial knocks with the bat.

Just like on day one, the pitch was achingly slow and played fewer tricks in terms of turn and bounce for the older ball. Even with the new ball, England carried only a fleeting threat.

For once, Ben Stokes’s tactics were questionable. Ahmed bowled just one over of the first 47 in the Pakistan innings. England were passive in the field, with boundary riders allowing single after single.

When Sajid arrived to drive home Pakistan’s position, England were bereft of answers. Gus Atkinson was ignored until the second new ball was 15 overs old and was the man to remove Shakeel, while Stokes did not bowl himself at all.

The concern was England would go too hard against the new ball, repeating the mistakes of a first-day slump to 118-6. Pakistan’s total was what England should have reached after winning the toss, rather than their 267.

As it turned out, their defences were breached as Noman and Sajid got more from the pitch than the England spinners. The tourists at least have the advantage of bowling last, but need the runs to make it count.

This was a quite brilliant knock by Shakeel. When he arrived, Pakistan were 46-3 and in danger of imploding. By the time he left, more than five hours later, the home side were in the lead.

The left-hander overturned being given caught down the leg side on one on the first evening. Resuming on 16, with Pakistan 73-3, Shakeel had added 10 when a thick edge off Bashir hit Jamie Smith on the knee. It was barely a chance to the keeper.

Shakeel is a superb player of spin. Time and again he pushed the ball into the off side for ones. His 70 singles is the most in a batter’s first 100 runs where such data has been collected. He hit just four fours on the way to three figures.

Shakeel had to watch as Ahmed’s burst threatened to give England a big advantage, yet he found a willing ally in Noman, who adopted the same caution. Noman overturned being given lbw on 10, edged Joe Root just past the fingertips of slip Stokes on 35 and would have been run out on 36 had Jack Leach hit from mid-off.

Shakeel tucked Ahmed into the leg side for his fourth Test hundred as England clung on for the new ball. It did the trick when Bashir scuttled one into Noman’s pads.

Pakistan were not done. Sajid scooped Ahmed into his own chin, drawing blood, though still crashed four sixes. Shakeel eventually miscued Atkinson to mid-wicket before last man Zahid Mahmood was befuddled by an Ahmed googly.