Brief score: ENG 267 & 24/3 (Duckett 12, Root 5*; Noman 2/9) trail PAK 344 (Shakeel 134, Sajid 48*; Rehan 4/66) by 53 runs
Pakistan skipper Shan Masood added 10 runs to his overnight score of 16, as Pakistan sought to build upon their previous evening’s tally of 76/3, but could not last past the hour mark on Day 2 as he poked a Shoaib Bashir delivery to Ollie Pope at second slip. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel took over the onus thereafter to stabilize proceedings but the promise was once again short-lived when the former was trapped in front by Rehan Ahmed for 25 to end the 52-run stand. The wrist-spinner went on a role thereafter, dispatching both Salman Agha and Aamer Jamal in the same spell to leave Pakistan reeling at 187/7 heading into Lunch.
Upon resumption, Saud Shakeel, who had been watching wickets tumble from the other end, finally found some reliable company in Noman Ali as the duo patiently played out the English while gradually keeping the scorecard ticking. They stitched together a 78-run stand in as many as 25 overs, with Shakeel bringing up his fourth Test ton in the process, until Noman finally succumbed to Bashir two short of a second Test fifty. Nevertheless, with parity restored to England’s first innings haul of 267, Sajid Khan went gung ho in a brilliant counterattacking display featruing four maximums and two boundaries. However, much like his spin twin, Sajid too was stranded on 48 after Saud and Zahid Mahmood fell within the space of five dleiveries to bring an end to Pakistan’s first dig with the bat.
England thus found themselves with potentially 14 overs to contend until Stumps with the deficit 77. Ben Duckett tried to stamp his authority early with consecutive boundaries off Sajid in the third over but things went haywire quickly when the opener was deceived by a change in pace from Sajid and fell LBW, five balls before Noman Ali trapped his fellow opener Zak Crawley with an arm ball. The veteran spinner proceeded to add a cherry on top by having Ollie Pope caught at slip in the penultimate over of the day as bad light stopped play after nine overs, the score reading a dismal 24/3 at Stumps with Pakistan’s lead still a hefty 53 runs.
THE MAGIC OF SAJID KHAN & NAUMAN ALI IN RAWALPINDI 🇵🇰❤️❤️
Come on Pakistan 🔥 this is Pakistan cricket #ENGvsPAK #Pakistan #PAKvENG #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/PhOFAu6e0N— Mr Deni (@Daniyalkhan5510) October 25, 2024
At its best
Phenomenal
These 2 have been phenomenal throughout this series. Wicket takers and with some handy runs in the tails as well. They have defeated the England on their own.#ENGvsPAK #INDvsNZ pic.twitter.com/BuFQj1hTlz
— All-Rounder (@allrounder1132) October 25, 2024
Oh GOD!!! What a bloody day as a PCT fan😭😭 Don’t remember when was the last time we had such dominant day with ball. Even in the last test we had some hiccups. But this one feels different #PAKvENG #ENGvsPAK
— @hmad (@HomoTapien007) October 25, 2024
Trouble makers
Sometimes the wicket keepers are trouble makers while batting. The chirping sound feels irritating. #INDvsNZ #ENGvsPAK
— sreekar 🇮🇳 🇦🇺 sports agent (@nyalkalkars) October 25, 2024
Enough
PCT ❌
SA-MAN CT ✅ #ENGvsPAK— 𐐚ilαl (@next0neplease) October 25, 2024
Kitny Admi thay ? Sajid & Noman #PAKvsENG#abuksports #SaudShakeel #NomanAli #PAKvSL #PAKvSL #SajidKhan #EmergingAsiaCup2024 #INDvsNZ #INDvNZ #TestAtHome #ENGvsPAK #PAKvENG #PAKvsENG #PakistanCricket #BanTikTokSavePakistan #یوتھیوں_نئی_وزیراعلیٰ_مبارک pic.twitter.com/kjBxCi5EEe
— Basit Khan (@ABUKALEX) October 25, 2024
Well deserved
Pure allrounder
Sajid Khan.. fighter all rounder..#PAKvENG #PAKvsENG#ENGvsPak #indvsnzl
pic.twitter.com/rA6D5Eu9MR— Mahnoor Khan (@Mahnoor_khan126) October 25, 2024
345. That’s the target.
‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light.’
BAZBALL all the way!#ENGvsPAK #TestCricket @benstokes38 @OPope32 @root66 @englandcricket— bhnan (@bhnan5791) October 25, 2024