PAK vs ENG, 3rd Test, Day 4: England 354 (Brook 111, Foakes 64, Pope 51, Nauman 4-126, Abrar 4-150) and 170 for 2 (Duckett 82*) beat Pakistan 304 (Babar 78, Salman 56, Leach 4-140) and 216 (Babar 54, Shakeel 53, Rehan 5-48) by eight wickets

England required 38 minutes to finish a resonating eight-wicket win on the fourth morning in Karachi, in the end gunning down their last-innings focus of 167 in 28.1 overs. Ben Duckett hit Mohammad Wasim with the winning run to win the series 3-0. This was the first time Pakistan had lost a series on their own turf.

After a chaotic attempt to win the third Test within three days with 55 runs remaining, England were slightly more restrained on the fourth morning, but it only took 11.1 overs to complete the sweep. With a score of 82 not out, Duckett became the second-highest run scorer in the series behind captain Ben Stokes, who was unbeaten on 35 at the other end.

This was England’s 10th success in 10 Tests since Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as commander and mentor separately, an exceptional circle back after a run of one win in 17 preceding their arrangements. In their first Test series in Pakistan since 2005, they destroyed a weak Pakistan team. Now, they have a short break before playing New Zealand on Boxing Day.

At the presentation, Stokes was asked to give his opinion on the show, and all he said was, “Perfect.” 

“We’ve adapted really well, whether that be with bat or ball. The confidence that every individual has in themselves and the people around them is unbelievable. Every person has stood up at some point and put in some kind of match-winning performance. We knew what cricket means to Pakistan and we knew what it meant to Pakistan for us to be here. The support that we’ve had has been incredible. We felt like the cricket that was played was just being celebrated. We came here to win but we also came to play an exciting brand of cricket and get people in to watch. To walk off to a reception like we have at every ground, being the winners over the home team, was very special.”

He later added.

On the final day of the series, England won easily in front of another sparse crowd at the National Stadium.

While Duckett continued to sweep, reverse-sweep, and paddle-sweep liberally off Abrar Ahmed as he extended his form in a hugely impressive comeback series, Stokes set the tone by muscling the third ball he faced through midwicket.

Stokes was dropped by Salman Ali Agha at wide long-on as he attempted to hit the 108th six of his Test career as his attention quickly turned to the chance to surpass McCullum as the outright leading six-hitter in Test history. He tried again, slog-sweeping into the deep on the leg side and chipping Abrar down the ground, but he was unsuccessful. He threw his head back and smiled wryly as he looked toward the changing room.

As a result, Duckett was able to back-cut Wasim through point with the score still level, raising his arms in the air as the ball flew to the boundary line for a four-pointer. Before this tour, England had only won two Tests in Pakistan, but on their return after a long absence, they won for the third time in a row.

After making his final international appearance for Pakistan, Azhar Ali walked off the field with a tear in his eye and a commemorative stump in his hand. From his 97 caps, he retired from Test cricket with 7097 runs at 42.49, including 19 hundreds.

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After scoring three hundreds in his second, third, and fourth Test cricket games, Harry Brook, the tour’s leading run scorer with 468 in five innings, was named Player of the Series. 

“He’s set Pakistan on fire,” Stokes said.

Rehan Ahmed, England’s 18-year-old debutant, was introduced to the attack late by Stokes on the third afternoon of the third Test, and he immediately tore through Pakistan’s middle and lower order. He set up a routine chase by scoring 5 for 48, making him the youngest player in Test history to score five wickets on his debut.