At the end of the third day, the fate of the Multan Test was swinging like a pendulum. However, on the fourth day, Pakistan took the victory into its hands. However, Pakistan lost the last 5 wickets after scoring 38 runs in their unpredictable character. Fast bowler Mark Wood picked up Saud (94) and Mohammad Nawaz (45) to bring England back into the match. After the fall of the seventh wicket (Saud Shakeel) for the team’s 291 runs, Pakistan was no longer on course for victory. Khowal Babar Azam’s team lost two consecutive Tests in the three-Test series to England.
Pakistan managed to play almost one and a half sessions in their second innings today. Babar Azam’s team lost to England by 26 runs after being all out for 328 runs. With this victory, Ben Stokes’ England won the three-match Test series 2-0 with one match in hand. England won their first series in Pakistan since the 2000–01 season. This is the first time Pakistan has won two Tests in a row. Of the 4 Tests that England won there, the first was in 1961, the second in 2000. This Test loss is also a bad experience for Pakistan. This is the first time since 1959 that Pakistan has lost three consecutive Tests at home. After losing the Lahore Test to Australia last March, Pakistan also lost two consecutive Tests in the series against England.
England got off to a great start when they toured Pakistan after 17 years. After winning the first Test in Rawalpindi, England scored 281 runs in the first innings by batting first in Multan. Pakistan was all out for 202 runs. After England was bowled out for 275 in the second innings, Pakistan set a target of 350 runs to win. Abdullah Shafiq (45) and Mohammad Rizwan (30) contributed well in the fight to get through the third day but the match would be decided on the fourth day.
The pairing of Saud Shakeel and Fahim Ashraf did not last long in the morning session. Fahim (10) returned after being a victim of Joe Root’s spin, adding only 7 runs. After that, Nawaz and Soud put on 80 runs for the sixth wicket and Pakistan returned to the fight. But in his two consecutive overs (92nd and 94th), Wood turned the match towards England by picking up Nawaz and Saud. Soud’s dismissal is controversial.
Soud tried to pool Wood’s ball. Although the ball touched his gloves, England keeper Ollie Pope was in doubt as to whether he had taken the catch properly. After the field umpire Alim Dar gave the ‘soft signal’ out, the third umpire upheld the decision of the field as he could not be sure even after some time.
After that Agha Salman and Abrar Ahmed tried a little but it was not enough. Pakistan lost the eighth wicket for 310 runs, the ninth wicket for 319 runs, and the tenth wicket for 328 runs.
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Mark Wood took a maximum of 4 wickets against England. James Anderson and Ole Robinson took 2 wickets each. Jack Leach and Joe Root took 1 wicket each.
Harry Brook scored 108 runs in the second innings and became the man of the match. The two teams will meet in the third and final Test of the series on December 17.