Joe Root reveals the reason for English bowlers' late success in Multan Test

Former England Test captain Joe Root is very happy with their dominant performances on the fourth day of the Multan Test against the hosts Pakistan. He praised the English bowlers' dominance in the fourth day's last session, which opened an incredible winning chance for them.

The ongoing Multan Test suddenly changed from England’s reply to Pakistan’s big first innings total of 556 to Joe Root and Harry Brook’s outstanding batting performances to open a good chance for the visitors to secure a historic win.

While England earned a strong 267-run lead after the end of their first innings, which experienced the fourth-highest total in Test cricket history (823/7 declare), Pakistan ended the fourth day with 152/6.

Mental disintegration

In fact, the hosts were struggling at 82/6 in the second innings, before a 70-run partnership for the unbroken seventh wicket between Salman Agha (41*) and Aamer Jamal (27*) helped Pakistan to bring some fight back in the Test match. 

English bowlers Gus Atkinson (2/28) and Brydon Carse (2/39) got two wickets each, while Chris Woakes (1/29) and Jack Leach (1/20) picked up one wicket each. 

Talking about the sudden change of the match scenario in the last session, Root told Sky Sports at the end of the day, "That last session there, the way that we bowled was fantastic. You've obviously got to play on the fact that they've been out there for long periods of time, the mental disintegration that you can sometimes go through when you've been waiting to bat for so long. It feels so flat, and then you see one scoot low first ball of the innings, and all of a sudden, it looks like a very different pitch, and a very different game."

English bowlers' success reason in the last session

English batters also played crucial roles in setting up the match for a result in favour of the visitors. Challenging Pakistan’s 556 runs, Joe Root and Harry Brook set a world record fourth wicket partnership in Test cricket history with 454 runs. 

While Root scored 262 runs off 375 balls, Brook scored 317 runs off 322 balls. England scored the fourth-highest Test innings total, 823/7 declaration, in just 150 overs with a run-rate of 5.48. Their batting helped England produce more than 100 overs for the second innings. 

Excited Root added, "It'd be a hell of an achievement [to win this Test]. We worked really hard to get into this position and, tonight, I thought that was equally as phenomenal as the way that we played with the bat. 

“You've got to try and play on that and understand that, as a bowling group, if you hit the right areas and you create those opportunities, then you could really cause some havoc. And for us to be here now six-down is brilliant going into the last day.”

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We're going to create some opportunities tomorrow: Root

England are four wickets away from winning this Test match, while Pakistan are still trailing by 115 runs. Moreover, Abrar Ahmed’s hospitalization makes it more complicated only for Pakistan cricket. 

Root strongly believes that the English bowlers will create some opportunities on the final day to secure an unforgettable Test win. 

Root said, "To exploit the little that was there on offer for us, to get ahead of [the game] and get their bowling allrounders out there batting, is a great achievement for us. With another day's wear into the wicket, I'm sure we're going to create some opportunities tomorrow. If we can open the door early, things will hopefully fall in our favour, and we can enjoy what's been a really good week."