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England’s trio of fast bowlers took a wicket each Sunday as Pakistan reached 198-4 at stump on the third day of the second Test in Multan setting up a potentially gripping fourth-day climax.
Pakistan needs 157 runs more to level the series with six wickets in hand.
Set a challenging 355-run target, Pakistan was 64 without loss at lunch but lost three wickets in the space of 19 runs as England’s seamers generated reverse swing.
No team has ever successfully chased more than 314 in Pakistan, a target reached by the home team against Australia in Karachi in 1994.
Veteran pacer James Anderson bowled Mohammad Rizwan off the fifth ball after lunch for 30 before Ollie Robinson had home skipper Babar Azam for one.
Azam was left shell-shocked as he tried to leave a ball which came in sharply to hit the stumps.
It became 83-3 when Mark Wood bowled Abdullah Shafique for 45, with a ball that reverse swung to hit the stump and beat the forward push.
Earlier, spinner Abrar Ahmed took 11 wickets for 234 across the two innings – the second best by a bowler on debut for Pakistan, behind Mohammad Zahid’s 11-130 against New Zealand in Rawalpindi 26 years ago.
Harry Brook top-scored with 108 in England’s 275 all out.
Brook smashed spinner Mohammad Nawaz for his 14th boundary to complete his second century of the series, having notched 153 runs in the first Test.
He also struck a six before being caught off spinner Zahid Mahmood, who took 3-52.
England resumed at 202-5 and added 73 runs before folding an hour before lunch. Ben Stokes made 41 and added 101 for the sixth wicket with Brook before England lost their last five wickets for just 19 runs.
Ahmed’s second innings figures were 4-120. England won the first Test by 74 runs in Rawalpindi.
