Watch cricket video highlights of England tour of Pakistan 2024. Second test between Pakistan and England. Venue of the match will be Multan.
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at the second Test at Multan, Pakistan’s bottom order battled valiantly to set England a target of 297 to win, and Salman Agha scored his third fifty-plus innings of the series. following tea, England had taken the lead thanks to three fast wickets, but Sajid Khan strengthened Pakistan’s prospects of winning at home for the first time since 2021 by adding 65 with Salman at the ninth wicket following his seven-for with the ball. Salman was dropped twice, on 4 and 6, in the space of three balls, by Brydon Carse a few overs before tea, making the stand, which came at nearly a run a ball, all the more agonising for England.
And even though Aamer Jamal and Noman Ali quickly followed Jack Leach’s removal of Saud Shakeel shortly after the half, Salman successfully countered to help Pakistan reach a lead of 300. After splicing a pull to midwicket off Carse, Salman ultimately fell, but by then, he and Sajid had established by far the biggest partnership of the day as the pitch kept helping the bowlers more and more, taking 14 wickets. By far their biggest chase in Asia, it meant that England would have to accomplish the second-highest fourth-inning total in Pakistan’s history.
After engaging in two consecutive 30-plus stand partnerships with Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Rizwan, Shakeel guided Pakistan through the afternoon. However, Carse twice denied Salman a break: first, Jamie Smith failed to hold a standard nick behind the stumps, and then Joe Root shelled another to his right, with only a helmet and close proximity providing some respite. Shoaib Bashir had hit three times before lunch, leaving Pakistan at 43 for 3. However, Ghulam, the first-inning centurion, counterpunched, fiercely sweeping the spinners before playing around Leach’s arm ball to be plumb lbw.
Ben Stokes has decided to bowl pace for the first time since Shakeel arrived. However, following two Carse overs in which Root dropped a close opportunity as Shakeel tried to cut, England returned to spin at both ends. Early on, the fifth-wicket combination was cautious as they attempted to undo some of the early damage. Rizwan sought to attack as Stokes brought in Matt Potts, hammering fours either side of the wicket. However, in the next over, England broke the stand when the ball reversed and Carse was called upon once more.
Carse got one to keep its line wide of off after troubling Rizwan with the ball going back in, much like how the batsman went out of the game in the second innings of the opening Test. Root was hanging to a thick outside edge. The Multan Test turned into a spin-driven challenge after that, as the first wicket fell to a seamer on the third day. Early on, Sajid had taken seven wickets to put England up by 75 runs, and at the beginning of Pakistan’s second innings, Bashir had hit three times. After his side was bowled out in the first hour, Stokes’ approach summed up the condition of the pitch in Multan.
Pakistan temporarily had two left-hand hitters in the middle when Leach and Bashir began to bowl. Root was also given a few overs. Although Bashir has not had much success on the tour thus far, he has shown that he is capable of rising to the challenge. The breakthrough came in his third over when Abdullah Shafique was declared to have feathered a catch behind down the leg side. However, it took the third umpire, Sharfuddoula, some considerable time to decide this after England had gone to the DRS.
Pakistan’s opening partnership ended at 9 after Shafique was dismissed; this is the ninth time in 10 innings that he and Saim Ayub have failed to score more than ten runs together. Despite trying to go after Bashir, Shan Masood was quickly dismissed. He was squared up by someone who tore off a length to smash the splice for a crisp catch to Ollie Pope, in close under the helmet at second slip. England’s spinners had plenty of turn and bounce, and on the last delivery before the interval, Bashir lifted Ayub, who leaned forward to give Pope an easier opportunity.
Compared to the first Test at this location, which saw just 13 wickets fall in the opening three days, everything was a far cry. After eight sessions on the repurposed pitch, the count had already reached 25. Sajid, whose four wickets in the second day’s evening session had completely disrupted England, took three of the final four wickets to fall. Pakistan’s lead was only threatened by a last-wicket partnership of 29, the fourth-highest of the innings.
The second bowler who made a contribution was Noman, who claimed his 50th wicket in a Test match as Jamie Smith, England’s final recognized batsman, attempted to hit out with the tail. England lost their final eight wickets for a total of 80 runs. Sajid was soon causing trepidation among the poorer classes in England. Carse attempted driving and sweeping with no success. Then, seeing an inside edge move in front of the short leg during a defence, he attempted to take the ball aerially and hit Sajid in the throat, going long-on.
In the offspinner’s subsequent over, Carse’s Durham teammate Potts was bowled through his legs after becoming entangled in his stumps. Smith thought it was time to switch gears with Leach by his side, but their alliance lasted only eight balls as England’s No. 7 was comfortably caught at long-off while attempting to drive Noman off the pitch. Despite being down 3 for 14, England was still behind by three wickets, but Leach and Bashir made some valuable runs in a crucial last-wicket partnership.
Leach did a good job of slog-sweeping Noman, while Bashir gave Sajid the greatest innings numbers of any bowler at Multan by dumping him over deep backward square leg for his lone boundary and then toe-ending a swipe across the line to short midwicket.
