Sharjah: Exposing England batsmen’s weakness against spin, Pakistan stamped their supremacy by winning the third and final Test on the final day by 127 runs and the series 2-0 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
England skipper Alastair Cook stood like a colossus amidst his team’s ruins to crack 63 runs. All that Cook could do was delay the impending defeat before Shoaib Malek, playing his last Test match, had him stumped by wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmad. It was indeed a deserving farewell wicket for Malek and he received a standing ovation from the crowd and his wife and tennis star Sania Mirza from the pavilion.
Yasir Shah (4 for 44), Malek (3 for 26) and Zulfiqar Babar (2 for 31) bowled out England for a paltry 156 runs in 60.3 overs. Pakistan spinners also showed how far ahead they are in their standards compared to England’s spinners in making good use the wicket.
It was a horrendous start to the England innings with four wickets falling in the first five overs of the day. Watching the collapse from the pavilion was former England captain Alec Stewart, who is now the director of England cricket. His hopes of lifting his country to the No. 1 position again, without Kevin Pietersen, the best player of spin in their country, must have melted away too. Stewart also had to watch Pakistan move to the No. 2 position in ICC Test ranking and his country slip to sixth place proving that a team with an unsolved defect of playing quality spin and adapting to different conditions cannot be worthy of being the among the top teams.
It was indeed a creditable show by Pakistan who have been playing Test cricket in exile since 2009. Starting the day, needing 238 to win with eight wickets in hand, it was a huge mountain for England to climb. With the fourth ball in the second over of the day, Yasir trapped Joe Root leg before for 6. Going on to the back foot Root was pinned in front of the stumps deceived by the low bounce in Yasir’s leg break.
James Taylor, the man who helped England gain a lead over Pakistan in the first innings through a stubborn half century, lasted just nine balls. He angled a Zulfiqar Babar delivery into the hands of Younis Khan at slip for 2. It was Babar’s 50th Test wicket that too in only his 13th Test match. The ageing 36-year-old left-arm spinner had taken 19 of those wickets in the fourth innings to prove what a match winning bowler he is and surely deserved more Test matches than what he has got to play.
Bairstow’s exit was even quicker, out for a duck. He went for a sweep off Yasir and missed it and got hit on the thigh. Strangely he wanted a review and wasted the last of the reviews for England.
Samit Patel fell to the first ball he faced from Babar. He failed to read an arm ball and got out leg-before to become the third batsman to be out for a duck in the innings.
Adil Rashid, who almost helped England draw the second Test in Dubai, exhibited the same stubborn attitude in the face of mounting pressure. From England’s pathetic score of 59 for 6, he helped Cook steer his team past the 100 run mark. The pair put on 49 runs in 21.2 overs before Adil got bowled by a reverse-swinging delivery from Rahat Ali for 22.
Broad and Cook added another 30 runs before Yasir made Broad sweep and the latter landed up being caught by Malek at square-leg for 20. Malek blew out England’s only hope through Cook’s wicket as chants of Pakistan Zindabad filled the stadium. The celebrations of the fans went on till Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq lifted the cup and waved towards the cheering fans.
