Pakistan 187 for 7 (Shakeel 74*, Noman 6*) trail England 267 (Smith 89, Duckett 52, Sajid 6-128) by 80 runs
The legspinner, in his first appearance of the series, and first international cap since the India Test tour at the start of 2024, trapped Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Agha leg before in the space of nine deliveries. The 20-year-old then bagged Aamer Jamal with a googly that the allrounder failed to read, chopping onto his stumps
But Shakeel should have been removed on 26 when Bashir found a leading edge through to Jamie Smith, who was unable to claim a low catch. The ball ended up ricocheting off the wicketkeeper’s left shin, reflecting the difficulty of the chance. Even so, Smith should have been wiser to the lack of bounce following his 119 deliveries in front of the stumps for an accomplished 89 on day one.
Pakistan had resumed on 73 for 3, still trailing by 194, and it was clear Shakeel and Masood were intent on consolidation rather than accumulation. It meant that when Masood had edged Bashir to Ollie Pope at second slip – standing close enough to require a helmet – only 26 runs had been added in the first 40 minutes of play.
That’s not to say the stand was detrimental to the hosts. Having come together on the evening of day one at 46 for 3, a stand of 53 from 130 deliveries stymied England’s progress after they had grafted to 267 in their first innings.
Masood looked the less settled of the two left-handers, occasionally playing to leg with an angled bat, which led to his dismissal off a leading edge. It was just reward for Bashir, who out-bowled Jack Leach as the two Somerset spinners shared the bowling for the first hour.
Naturally, the entrance of Rizwan brought a bump in the run rate. His opening boundary – smearing Leach over the midwicket fence for six in the 39th over – was the first since the 26th. That was followed by a guide down to third for four off Gus Atkinson in the 40th.
Shakeel then accelerated through to his sixth half-century against England – from 92 deliveries – with a brace of sweeps. But with the collective fifty for the fifth wicket coming up shortly before the team 150, Rehan then came to the party.
Having announced himself on the international scene with a five-wicket haul on debut in the third Test of the 2022 series against Pakistan, Rehan went some way to emulating that performance. Rizwan was undone by drift attempting to sweep. Agha was fooled by similar movement through the air, beaten on the outside edge with umpire’s call falling in England’s favour on both the impact with the front pad and the predicted path into the off stump.
The dismissal of Agha for just 1 was met with relish from Ben Stokes and the rest of the England team, a justified reaction given the No.7 started the series with an unbeaten 107 followed by two scores of 63 coming into this Test. And the England captain was similarly elated when the usually pugnacious Jamal pressed forward and followed the turn into him, inside-edging and turning around just in time to see the ball ricochet onto his stumps.
A heave down the ground from Noman Ali in the final over before the break was the first boundary Rehan had conceded from his nine overs so far. Despite the four wickets so far, parity remains a possibility with Shakeel still at the crease.
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo