England vs Pakistan, 2020: 1st Test, Day 3 – End of Babar Azam's streaks, Yasir Shah's success in England and more stats

Pakistan hold an upper hand in the Manchester Test even after the 3rd day’s play which witnessed England’s comeback, especially with the ball. Ollie Pope’s fifty and the contributions from the lower-order pushed England’s total to 219 but they ended 107 runs behind Pakistan’s first innings. Later, the hosts’ bowlers combined to unsettle Pakistan’s batting with regular wickets. A couple of late wickets from Ben Stokes saw the visitors ending the day on 137/8 but have got a lead of 244 runs in their hand.

Here are the statistical highlights from the 3rd day’s play that witnessed England’s fightback:

Contrasting performances from Masood:

1 – Shan Masood is now the first opening batsman on England soil to record a 150+ score and bag a duck in the same Test. He is also the 2nd player after Billy Murdoch (0 & 153* vs ENG in 1880) with a 150+ score and a duck in the same Test on English soil.

6 – Shan Masood became only the 6th player to record a 150+ score and bag a duck in the same Test for Pakistan. The last of the previous five was Shoaib Malik who scored 245 in the first innings and bagged a duck in the second during the 2015 Abu Dhabi Test also against England.

End of Babar’s streak:

4 – Babar Azam missed out a chance of becoming the second Pakistan player after Mohammad Yousuf (Five in 2006) scoring a century in four or more consecutive Test matches. Babar had scored a ton in each of his last three Test matches coming into this series.

The second innings failure meant Babar missed out on joining Zaheer Abbas (1982-83), Mohammad Yousuf (2006) and Misbah-ul-Haq (2010-11) in registering fifty-plus scores in six consecutive Test innings for Pakistan.

5 – Babar came into this series having scored 100+ runs in each of his last five Test matches. But he scored only five runs in the second essay taking his match aggregate in the Manchester Test to 74 runs and put an end to his rare streak.

Azhar Ali gets trapped by Woakes again:

3 – Azhar Ali has been dismissed LBW in both innings of this Test match by Chris Woakes. The England pacer is only the 3rd bowler to dismiss a Pakistan captain via LBW in both innings of a Test match.

Inzamam-ul-Haq off Anil Kumble during the 2005 Mohali Test against India and Waqar Younis off Shane Warne during the 2002 Sharjah Test against Australia got out via LBW in both innings while leading the Pakistan team.

Yasir Shah continues his success in England:

4 – The 4/66 in England’s first innings was Yasir Shah’s 4th 4-wicket in Test cricket in England. Only Waqar Younis (6) has more 4-wicket hauls in Test cricket for Pakistan on English soil than Yasir.

Among Asian spinners, only Muttiah Muralitharan (6) had more than four 4-fers in Test cricket on England soil before Yasir Shah. No Pakistan spin bowler other than Yasir has claimed more than two Test 4-fers in England.

Naseem scripts history in England:

17y 172d – Naseem Shah began this Test at the age or 17 years and 172 days. With the wicket of Ollie Pope, Naseem now becomes the 3rd youngest player to claim a wicket in Men’s Test cricket on England soil.

The ages of Khalid Hasan in 1954 Nottingham Test and Ata-ur-Rehman in the 1992 Birmingham Test were 16y 352d and 17y 68d respectively when they claimed their maiden wicket on English soil in Test cricket.