Pakistan wrapped up the last Test match by nine wickets in under three days, ensuring a series victory of 2-1 over England during the pre season tours held in Rawalpindi.
Although Noman, the 38-year-old left-arm spinner and off-spinner Sahajid, 31, managed to get all 20 wickets on an equally weathered pitch during the second test of the series last week, they managed to get 19 more wickets today as England were bowled out on 112 runs on a self designed hard pitch.
This low innings total is now England’s least in Pakistan smashing the previous low which was set in Lahore in 1987 which was 130 all out.
With a significant first innings lead of 77 runs, Pakistan saw its first home series victory since 2021 when it beat South Africa 2-0 as they moved to 37-1 at the end of lunch.
Victory against England is ‘special’ for Pakistan
After losing six matches in a row against England, Masood turned the tide and then sealed the victory with a six over long-off against Shoaib Bashir, after hitting four Marbles to Jack Leach.
The left-arm-offs take spinner Saim Ayub who is on eight and is the sole victim of an LBW referral upstairs and must go in the only wicket to fall today came this morning.
“It’s special,” said Masood. “The first win came after a long, how many years later, backed up by the series win, I mean its character, and to stand and be here as a winning team, that is the most special for us.”
And against the spin duo, England’s batting flopped for the second time in this match as the former made 6-42 on a surface that was baked dry by electric heaters and honking fans roughly the size of military vehicles.
Khan took 4-69 in this match to complement his earlier six-wicket haul in the first innings which demonstrated how poorly the England batters dealt with the turn and variable bounce extracted by Khan and Ali.
The first test was successfully finished by England with an innings margin and 47 runs victory thus prompting Pakistan to call back both Noman and Sajid for the last two test matches and using the same turf in Multan to defuse the batting threat posed by England.
Englands relieving captain Ben Stokes had a busy schedule as he was unable to play in the opening test due to a torn hamstring but had to return to lead the team in batting conditions that were not easy, and felt the performance of his team was below the benchmark.
“It was not great”, he expressed while addressing the media after the game, “we were given some tests as a result of these two games and we did not quite answer the bell when those tests came. Well done to Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s revenge against England ends miserable Test run
When the score was teetering at a precarious 24-3, Joe Root (33) and Harry Brook (26) cut the deficit to 11 runs before there was a sequence of wicket losses for England. England’s openers had tried to fight back but two continued further in the first session before England’s second wicket fell at 6-75.
Brook attempted to cut Ali to an inside edge. Stokes was trapped LBW off an arm ball that he mistakenly ignored. When Jamie Smith (3) came forward to Whitehead, he was out charged to Khan and had his off stump for another England collapse to 6-75.
“I believe people did everything during practice but if we go out and battle, it could be entirely another world”. Stokes admitted. “But it became tougher because Khan dismissed Root’s dreadfully long innings and got the first victory against the spin pairs against England’s lower order.
That was sweet retribution for the home side who were whitewashed 3-0 against England in their last tour of Pakistan two years ago which was under Stokes’ captaincy.
Sajid gets relief as he wins a test match in post 2016 after Masood’s deep troubled phase where criticism around him was intensifying. The Pakistan cricket team suffered a collapse series in Australia 0-3 then got beaten inside their own fans by Bangladesh making it a 0-2 historic 0-2 series defeat to Bangladesh and then Masiud’s team having beaten the highest runs scored of 823-7 declared by England.
“This win is for all Pakistanis who have suffered for lots, sajid gets his first test match win since the last time he forgets about himself which is something everyone looks forward to seeing,” masood expressed. Fingers crossed that it makes people happy and brings in crowds.