Twitter Reactions: Bashir, Leach lead England's fightback on 16-wicket day, Pakistan still have the edge

Sajid Khan wrapped up the English innings halfway through the morning session by scalping three of the remaining four wickets.

By Rathnam Nayak

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4 Min Read

PAK vs ENG
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PAK vs ENG (Photo Source : X/Twitter)

It was Sajid Khan who continued the good work from Day 2 as he accounted for his fifth wicket of the innings 26 deliveries into the day with the wicket of Brydon Carse. The Englishman's dogged 29-ball resistance finally came to an end in a bid to hit his way out of trouble. The very next over saw him cleaning up Matthew Potts through his legs, a couple of deliveries after Potts had swept him for a boundary. 

Jamie Smith, who had been on the non-striker's end for the bulk of the time after Day 3 got underway, probably felt a rush of blood to get a move on. However, all he could do was hole out to long-off in search of a big one to grant Noman Ali a deserved third wicket during England's first innings. 

Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir did stick around for a 29-run stand for the final wicket, adding some crucial runs to England's scoreboard to register the fourth-highest partnership for the visitors of the innings. England ultimately ended up at 291, with the star for the hosts being Sajid, who had figures of 7/111 to grant his side a crucial 75-run lead going into their second innings with the bat. It was now up to the Pakistani openers to give their side a solid start, regardless of the rate at which they scored their runs for the initial bit.

One thing was clear, England were not going to shy away from their trademark all-out aggressive approach. As expected, it was the spin duo of Leach and Bashir which opened the bowling. The treacherous run as an opening combination continued for Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub as the former was strangled one down the leg-side, which meant the duo registered their ninth single-digit score in their previous 10 innings. Bashir was rewarded for being precise with his channels with skipper Shan Masood departing after nicking one off to second-slip.

The final delivery before Lunch produced the seventh wicket during the morning session in what were an enthralling few hours of cricket. The first six overs of the afternoon session saw Pakistan revving up their score with six boundaries, only for debutant and centurion of the first innings, Kamran Ghulam to fall after an arm-ball from Leach. Bringing back Brydon Carse did the trick for England as a delivery which was angled in found Mohammad Rizwan's outside edge to carry to Joe Root at slip. Salman Agha should have been a goner before Tea but was dropped not once but twice in the same over.

England made instant inroads in the final session by taking three Pakistan wickets in quick time. Leach's couple were followed up by Bashir who got rid of Noman to leave the hosts eight-down. Without really farming the strike, Agha went about his batting with controlled aggression. He brought up his third 50+ score of the series with a thumping maximum over long-off. The two were all set to make the lead cross the 300-mark, only for Agha and Sajid to be dismissed off short deliveries in successive overs to leave England with a target of 297 to clinch the match and the series.

The very third delivery of the England innings brought about Ben Duckett's doom. The centurion of England's first innings was dismissed for a silver duck as Sajid made merry on the field with his classical Kabaddi-themed celebration. Crawley was the next to depart with him getting lured out of the crease to grant Noman his scalp. Root and Harry Brook navigated some tense overs right at the end to ensure England didn't cop any more blows to their batting order to end the day on 36/2 with 261 more to chase down.

Here's how X reacted to Day 3 of the second Test between Pakistan and England -

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Pakistan vs England 2024PakistanEnglandJack LeachShoaib Bashir