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Pakistan close on 198/4 in the 2nd Test at Multan, requiring another 157 runs to win

Sending Faheem here is baffling. He’s not a night watchman, and he’s another left hander so makes it easier for the English bowlers to keep their lines consistent. Should’ve sent Salman
 
Faheem in, lesson learn from 1st inns by sending in the two tail enders Agha and Nawaz in 1st.
 
What bottle jobs! Pakistan will be all out for under 250. Our tail in this match has to be on par with associate teams.
 
Imam is such a loser

Never seen a match winning innings by him in this format. Secure your spot and that is about it
 
angrypathan said:
Sending Faheem here is baffling. He’s not a night watchman, and he’s another left hander so makes it easier for the English bowlers to keep their lines consistent. Should’ve sent Salman
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Faheem can bat, Agha and Nawaz are glorified tail enders.
 
angrypathan said:
Sending Faheem here is baffling. He’s not a night watchman, and he’s another left hander so makes it easier for the English bowlers to keep their lines consistent. Should’ve sent Salman
Click to expand...

Wrong

They are comfortable against right handers
 
shah_1 said:
Imam is such a loser

Never seen a match winning innings by him in this format. Secure your spot and that is about it
Click to expand...

He’s only played one, in the 4th innings against Ireland a few years ago. Apart from that he’s only really scored on the Rawalpindi highway
 
Just Saud left to throw it away now, or will he show hunger for a ton!
 
Imam wicket possibly titled the balance in favour of England I reckon.
 
Could be a classic tomorrow.

Looks like it might be very close.
 
Saj said:
Imam wicket possibly titled the balance in favour of England I reckon.
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Pakistan had no real chance while Imam was in, just prolonging the inevitable. 6th Test in a row we have had to chance and our batsmen keep making nice inns of 40 or 50 and throwing it away.
 
Imam’s wicket in some ways is a positive development for Pakistan. If they entered tomorrow with even a sniff of a win, they would have caved. They are such faint hearted.

Now their backs are to the wall again. They will make a better fist of it - although loss is an almost inevitable result.
 
Looking at the first class records of the remaining Pakistan batters, they would all have to play out of their skins to get to this total. I think a lot depends on this partnership, and on Saud in particular.
 
Pakistan played well today. They need to get the kudos for keeping the match alive.

They have their limitations and it’s asking too much to win away in SENA. But I would minimum expect such fighting performances every game at home. They need to be in a position to capitalise from such tactical mistakes by England.

If they keep such a fighting attitude, they will definitely draw most series against strong opposition.
 
Most of the batters to come are right handed. I think that England will use their seamers against them around the wicket and aim for the cracks in the pitch again, as the three “magic balls” all came from this.
 
James said:
Could be a classic tomorrow.

Looks like it might be very close.
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I think so. England threw away a position of dominance by losing 5-13. They could have shut PKN out and still had six sessions to force the win.
 
Robert said:
I think so. England threw away a position of dominance by losing 5-13. They could have shut PKN out and still had six sessions to force the win.
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The outcome of the match will determine its key session.

If England win, it’s the second morning when Pakistan collapsed.

If Pakistan win, it’s the mini session of play that you mentioned.
 
James said:
Looking at the first class records of the remaining Pakistan batters, they would all have to play out of their skins to get to this total. I think a lot depends on this partnership, and on Saud in particular.
Click to expand...

Looking at Averages is what chairmen of selectors has done and this is why Pakistan is a mess, domestic records for a lot of current 11 in some cases hides how mediocre the likes of Agha, Nawaz etc.. are.

Babar or Abdullah are only batsmen capable of scoring big in last inns in a run chase and both failed in this inns, rest are just scratching around till they get out.
 
Jack Leach strikes late blow on day three in Multan

England struck late to break a crucial Pakistan partnership on the third day of the second Test in Multan.

Imam-ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel added 108 for the fourth wicket and took the hosts past halfway in their pursuit of 355.

But Jack Leach, who struggled throughout the day, had Imam edge a drive to Joe Root at slip for 60.

Shakeel remains on 54, the match tantalisingly poised, with Pakistan 157 runs short of their target on 198-4.

That Pakistan are even in the hunt is down to a poor England collapse in the morning session.

Despite Harry Brook completing his second century in as many Tests, captain Ben Stokes' dismissal sparked a capitulation of five wickets for 19 runs that left England 275 all out.

Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan added 66 for the first wicket, only for James Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood to produce a trio of magic deliveries to send Pakistan to 83-3.

Imam and Shakeel dug in, leaving England in a battle for the victory that would seal a series win.

England let Pakistan in

This contest has more life in it that seemed likely at the start of the day thanks to England's wastefulness and Pakistan's battling qualities.

The tourists should have been out of sight, but the morning collapse gave Pakistan a glimmer of hope they clung on to.

Despite the turning pitch, Pakistan attacked the spinners - Leach's 20 overs cost 88. It was only the efforts of Anderson, Robinson and Wood, who competed to bowl the most unplayable delivery - that returned control to England.

Still, Pakistan would not buckle, much to the delight of the biggest and noisiest crowd of the match so far.

Leach's late intervention will leave England feeling they are only one wicket away from breaking the home resistance, but the tourists will also be aware that Pakistan chased 344 to beat Sri Lanka in Galle as recently as July.

From nowhere, this series looks to have thrown up a second fascinating finale in the space of a week.

Pacemen produce magic before Pakistan defiance

Anderson did not bowl any of England's 15 overs in the morning session, but needed only five deliveries of the afternoon to add to his canon of stunning dismissals.

Angling the ball in, then nipping it away, it went past the outside edge and hit off stump to send a bewildered Rizwan on his way for 30.

Then came Robinson's effort, one that started wide enough to have Babar Azam shouldering arms, then jagged back like an off-break to bowl the home captain.

And Wood, hurling himself off his feet, found reverse swing at almost 90mph to whistle the ball between Shafique's bat and pad.

Shakeel offered a tough chance to Brook at short leg off Leach when on four, while Imam, batting at number five after having a scan on his hamstring, burst the hands of bowler Will Jacks on 19.

Reprieved, both left-handers expertly used their feet against the spin. All three of England's frontline pacers spent time off the field, while captain Stokes did not bowl at all.

When umpire Marais Erasmus failed to spot Imam's tickle down the leg side off Wood and England opted against the review, it felt like the momentum was with Pakistan, only for Leach to conjure the dramatic breakthrough in fading light.

Brook shines before England let it slip

How will England fit Brook and Jonny Bairstow into the same side when the latter recovers from a broken leg?

Brook has looked entirely at home at this level - he is only the third England man to score two hundreds in his first three Tests.

With England 202-5 overnight and Brook on 74, he continued scoring down the ground and through the leg side to reach three figures from 137 balls.

Brook added 101 with Stokes, who hit his 107th six to equal the Test record held by England coach Brendon McCullum. But, when Stokes was well caught on the leg-side boundary by Mohammad Ali off the spin of Mohammad Nawaz for 41, England's sloppy slide began.

Robinson charged and was bowled by Abrar Ahmed to give the leg-spinner 11 wickets in the match - only five debutants have ever taken more.

Wood guided to slip, Brook holed out on the leg side and Anderson was lbw, all to leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood.

BBC
 
Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Agha Salman and Mohammad Nawaz need to get all the remaining 157 runs.

England should fancy their chances of sealing the series tomorrow.
 
Well played by Imam and Saud, though later could had batted a little faster once set in, but I suppose he is on instructions from management. Another good match in the series, looking forward to tomorrow but I expect Pakistan to lose by 40 to 50 runs. If England do wil then they would had deserved it for their tactical planning and controlled bowling. Pakistan need to get their selection right,replace Salman and Nawaz with proper batsman and full time bowler,as well replacing Ali with Wasim J as there is no one else to pick from the poor squad.
 
Think it’s all over by teatime tomorrow…

Either way…
 
Pakistan very seldom start well in the morning, expecting us to lose 2 wickets in first 30 minutes of the morning session.
 
England are probably slightly ahead.

Pakistan need one big partnership. That should clinch it for them.
 
Optimism in both camps ahead of crucial day four

<i>With the game hanging in the balance, the outlook from both sides is positive.</I>

<b>Pakistan's Mohammed Rizwan: We believe that we can win</b>

"Obviously, if you look at the scoreboard, we have a chance to win," Rizwan told Sky Sports.
"We thought if we can take the wickets for 350 or 360, then we have a chance on this track.
"Now, if you look at the game, we are batting in a good position.
"Everyone has hope, the pitch is slow and we have depth in our batting."

<b>England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick: We will target early wickets</b>

"We are still in a very good position - a few more wickets would have been great but we are happy where we are," said Trescothick.
"We have six wickets to go and it is going to be a massive day's play.
"We have seen most wickets fall in the first sessions so we hope that continues."

Sky Sports
 
Ideal opportunity for Babar & Co. To redeem themselves if Pakistan win this and series tied at 1-1 knowing how garbage out attack is this will be madness with 6wickets and 157 runs , 2 days of play left you got to back yourself for chasing, but Saqlain relying on qudrat ka nizam
 
James said:
England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick: We will target early wickets

"We have seen most wickets fall in the first sessions so we hope that continues."
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This is correct about the morning session.

If England take 3 or 4 wickets in the morning then they will be extremely confident of winning.

0 or 1 though and I think both dressing rooms are going to get jittery, England because the game might be slipping out of their grasp and Pakistan because they will be able to see the finishing line.
 
James said:
It’s not “over” per se, but Pakistan are now in an absolute hole. England are 1-2 wickets away from breaking the back of this lineup.
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Hasn't happened yet. Imam and Saud stitched together a brilliant partnership. Pakistan need just one good partnership here.
 
Rizwan thinks we have depth in the batting? we have a very long tail! Delusion at its finest from Rizwan!
 
RyanRyan10 said:
Hasn't happened yet. Imam and Saud stitched together a brilliant partnership. Pakistan need just one good partnership here.
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England had 2 wickets when I posted, and now has those extra 2 wickets. We will see what happens in the morning.

There is now always going to be at least one end where there is not a specialist batter at the crease.
 
Poor Captaincy by Stokes , If ur pace bowlers can't even bowl 12 overs per day then they are useless, he is underestimating pakistan batsmen and overestimate Leach and root , for whole day Anderson bowl 7 overs
 
Pakistan batsmen also giving too much respect to their spinners, they must deal with their spinners like how pant treated them , it will force Stokes to bowl more overs from pace and reduce their recovery time
 
HARKS said:
Poor Captaincy by Stokes , If ur pace bowlers can't even bowl 12 overs per day then they are useless, he is underestimating pakistan batsmen and overestimate Leach and root , for whole day Anderson bowl 7 overs
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I was (and am) disappointed at the abundance of England spin & the lack of pace. I thought Stokes was letting the game drift at one point.

England’s seam bowlers after all are clearly their strong suit and have been taking the bulk of their wickets in this series.

However, it may be that there are some injuries and niggles going on. Trescothick strongly hinted at this in his post day interview.

So if that is indeed the case, England are saving the seamers for if/when the Test match approaches an absolute crunch situation when the game is on the line, which you’d think tomorrow afternoon it very much will be.
 
I've always maintained never play a spinner v Pakistan in any conditions. Always go for 4 or 5 pacers. Since 2000 we are unable to play pace in Tests.
 
angrypathan said:
Sending Faheem here is baffling. He’s not a night watchman, and he’s another left hander so makes it easier for the English bowlers to keep their lines consistent. Should’ve sent Salman
Click to expand...

As you can see from the first 3 wickets pakistan lost the ball was nipping back so to counter thier fast bowling they put in a left hander right decision in my opinion.
 
If England get 2 wickets tomorrow morning then they will win
If Pakistan only looses 1 wicket and gets 80ish runs then it will go down to the wire.
 
Mohammad Yousuf rues Imam-ul-Haq’s late dismissal in 2nd Test: England would have been under more pressure

Batting coach Mohammad Yousuf reckoned that Imam-ul-Haq’s wicket late on Day 3 made the second Test between England and Pakistan a 50:50 affair. In the dying stages of the day, Imam went for an expansive drive through the off side, but managed only an outside edge.

Joe Root took a sharp catch at first slip to send back Imam, who scored 60 runs off 104 balls with the help of seven fours. Imam was also involved in a 108-run stand for the second wicket with Saud Shakeel, who stayed unbeaten on 54 runs off 123 balls with five fours.

Yousuf lauded Shakeel and Imam for not going into their shell after Pakistan lost three quick wickets of Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique.

“After those three wickets, Imam and Saud played beautifully and put England under pressure. Due to Imam’s late wicket, England made a slight comeback into the game. Had Imam not got out, then England would have been under more pressure on Day 4,” Yousuf was quoted as saying in the press conference after the day’s play.

“Imam’s wicket has made it 50-50 ahead of the fourth day. But it’s part and parcel of the game, it’s the beauty of Test cricket that situations change session by session,” he stated.

With two days left in the match, Pakistan needed 157 runs to win at the Multan Cricket Stadium with six wickets in hand. Yousuf said that the batters would play their strokes freely instead of playing defensively.

“We haven’t been defensive as the run rate is decent enough. Imam and Saud played attacking cricket, used their feet when they got chances and tried to hit boundaries and they were successful. You can’t say that we played defensively and won’t play that way. We will go for a win and with two days left, there is no question of being defensive,” Yousuf added.

Pakistan are looking to draw level in the three-match series after their defeat in the opening match at Rawalpindi International Stadium.

India Today
 
One needs to ask is salman playing as a batsman or a bolwer or as an all rounder? If he is a bowler or all rounder why didnt he bowler and if he is a batsman why faheem came before him.?
 
New Ball is 16 overs away. England are going to give the new ball to Leech and Wood. Leech will get plenty of purchase with the new ball.
 
Regardless if we win or lose both Salman and Nawaz need to go. Pakistan team is carrying two passengers and have no chance of winning with these two in a starting lineup
 
BakuGM said:
Regardless if we win or lose both Salman and Nawaz need to go. Pakistan team is carrying two passengers and have no chance of winning with these two in a starting lineup
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Being slightly harsh on Salman. He has 6 test innings and has passed 50 on two occasions. Not saying he is the best, but we have had batsman before who look like a rabbit in headlights when playing test cricket.

Is he a better bat that Fawad or Azhar? I say yes due to their current form. But a big innings for Salman tomorrow to see if he stays in the test team.
 
Very unlikely now. That wicket was huge.
We need a one wicket session in the first one tomorrow.
Saud has to bat through and that's asking a lot of a new bat.
insha'Allah we can do it.
 
There is no one in the Pakistan team still batting/yet to bat who has ever scored any Test runs.

Based on that, England massively favoured. One out all out tomorrow, England win by 50-70- runs again.
 
Highlights of Day 3

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/3bivdo" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
wrongun said:
There is no one in the Pakistan team still batting/yet to bat who has ever scored any Test runs.

Based on that, England massively favoured. One out all out tomorrow, England win by 50-70- runs again.
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True. England holds all the cards given that new batsman has not faced enough from seamers
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"Always a masterclass, I love him." &#55358;&#56605;<br><br>Wholesome from Mohammad Rizwan on Jimmy Anderson &#55358;&#56688; <a href="https://t.co/OKeBEmONvM">pic.twitter.com/OKeBEmONvM</a></p>— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/1601912046815150082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Which is shocking. You'd expect the best Pakistani domestic fast bowler Ali to atleast know how to get reverse in home conditions if not anything else.

I can understand Pakistani fast bowlers not doing well in the Southern Hemisphere as they are neither accurate enough and don't have good skiddy short balls .

But getting out reversed in Pakistan is pretty poor . This happened back in 2000 as well when Craig White was reversing it big compared to Wasim and Waqar.
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Adding on to this,

England have found 0.93 degrees of swing this series
Pakistan have found only 0.68 degrees of swing

That has been the difference. Not the bazball approach to batting.

Pakistani fast bowlers have been very meek and submissive with their gun barrel straight bowling. English seamers getting 36% more swing gives them proper wicket taking ability.

Source for data : Cricviz
 
Amjid Javed said:
Looking at Averages is what chairmen of selectors has done and this is why Pakistan is a mess, domestic records for a lot of current 11 in some cases hides how mediocre the likes of Agha, Nawaz etc.. are.

Babar or Abdullah are only batsmen capable of scoring big in last inns in a run chase and both failed in this inns, rest are just scratching around till they get out.
Click to expand...

But Agha and Nawaz aren’t selected due to their FC averages. Their FC averages are mediocre. They are selected due to their ability to bowl apparently.

As far as my understanding goes, the highest averaging FC batsmen who hadn’t made a debut prior to this series were Saud Shakeel, Usman Salahuddin and Kamran Ghulam. All of these 3 guys boast a FC average of around 50 after 40+ games. I am not aware of anybody else. Someone please me honest here.

Saud 52.5
Kamran 47
Usman S 49
Agha S 39
Nawaz 36

Upcoming 2 guys who have healthy 50+ FC averages are Hurraira and Haider Ali, though early days for both of them.

I wish the selector had selected batsmen based on averages but he didn’t entirely.
 
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