As soon as the ball from Shoaib Bashir’s bat landed in Abdullah Shafique’s hands at silly point, Nauman Ali let out a loud cry, looking up at the sky. It wasn’t just any wicket; it was the moment Pakistan’s long wait came to an end! The moment of winning a Test match at home after three and a half years.
Nauman’s team stopped England, who were chasing a target of 297 in the fourth innings, at 144 runs. With a 152-run victory, Pakistan not only ended the painful chapter of seven consecutive Test losses at home, but also leveled the series. In this much-anticipated win, Nauman took 11 wickets, including 8 in the second innings.
Pakistan’s last home Test victory was in February 2021 against South Africa. Since then, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, and their team hadn’t seen a win in 11 consecutive Tests. The hope of ending that three-year, eight-month wait grew after Pakistan wrapped up the third day’s play in Multan yesterday.
England needed 261 more runs to win, while Pakistan required 8 wickets. In just the second over of the day, Sajid Khan removed Ollie Pope, pushing Pakistan closer to victory. After that, Nauman took over the rest.
Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali took all 20 of England’s wickets. With this Multan pitch having already hosted five days of play in the first Test, it was effectively the ninth-day wicket. The spinners had been getting help since the previous day. Just like yesterday, England’s batsmen relied heavily on sweeps and reverse sweeps to survive and score runs.
By playing these sweeps and reverse sweeps, England’s captain Ben Stokes scored the highest 37-run innings off 36 balls. However, he was stumped when he stepped out to hit Nauman. Lower-order batsman Brydon Carse hit three sixes, but when he tried to defend, he gave a catch at slip.
From Stokes and Carse to Bashir—Nauman took 7 of the 8 wickets that fell on the fourth day. The left-arm spinner ended with 8 wickets for 46 runs in the second innings. England’s innings collapsed in just 33.3 overs.
Scores
Pakistan: 366 and 221 (Salman 63, Shakeel 31, Kamran 26, Rizwan 23; Bashir 4/66, Leach 3/67, Carse 2/29).
England: 291 and 144 (Stokes 36, Carse 27, Pope 22; Nauman 8/46, Sajid 2/93).
Result: Pakistan won by 152 runs.
Man of the Match: Sajid Khan.
Series: The three-Test series is tied 1–1 after the second match.
