KARACHI: Debutant Rehan Ahmed starred with a brilliant five-wicket haul on his debut Test to help England bundle out Pakistan for 216 in the second innings on the third day of the final Test, here at National Bank Cricket Arena on Monday.
At 112 for 2, opener Ben Duckett and captain Ben Stokes will lead the chase on day 4 with England just 55 runs away from whitewashing Pakistan in the three-match series.
Rehan, the youngest player to make a debut for England, made an impressive start to his career as he wreaked havoc on Pakistan’s batting line and returned the astounding figures of 5/48.
The 18-year-old earned England vital breakthroughs in the afternoon session when skipper Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel were striving to control the damage for Pakistan with a fifty each.
Set to chase 167, England rushed towards the target in haste with a fast-setting sun and lost two wickets in the process, yet 17 overs proved significantly less to seal the fate of the game before the day ended.
England notched up 58 runs in the first six overs, emulating a T20-style powerplay hitting, however, after Crawley’s dismissal in the 12th over off Abrar Ahmed forced England to take a bet on tail-ender Rehan, who also fell prey to the mystery of Abrar after hitting two fours.
Duckett made a quick 50 from 38 and remained not out before the stumps with Stokes standing on the other end at an unbeaten 10.
Earlier, Babar and Saud gathered 110 runs on the fourth wicket and had nearly sailed Pakistan out of hot waters – as they were once stuck at 54 for 3 – before Rehan made back-to-back strikes and neutralized the gains made by the two. The leg spinner bagged the big wicket of skipper Babar to break the partnership prior to sending Mohammad Rizwan and Saud back to the pavilion before Tea.
Pakistan, however, managed 50 more runs after the interval and lost four wickets as the tail-enders failed to post a serious challenge in face of Ben Stokes’s commendable bowling changes.
Babar top-scored for his side with a solid 54 from 104 balls when he was caught at short mid-wicket by Ollie Pope off Rehan. Wicket-keeper batter Rizwan, however, managed just 7 off 16 before edging a short of a length ball.
Saud, who made his fourth fifty in the six innings he played so far, also offered his wicket to the 18-year-old before Tea with an ill-judged shot that was taken at square leg by Leach.
Earlier, Pakistan had a decent start to their second turn as openers Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique overcame the first innings deficit of 50 runs before Leach turned the tables in favour of England.
In a first breakthrough, Leach bowled out Shan Masood in his bid to attempt a reverse sweep while batting at 24. He then went on to hunt retiring Azhar Ali on a duck in the same over.
Veteran Azhar received a guard of honour from his teammates, who stood in queue raising their bats when the 37-year-old walked back to the pavilion after playing the final innings of his career, which unfortunately lasted for just four balls.
In his next over, Leach got rid of first Test centurion Abdullah Shafique after he made 26.
