PAK vs ENG, 3rd Test, Day 2:  Stumps Pakistan 304 (Babar 78, Salman 56, Leach 4-140) and 21 for 0 trail England 354 (Brook 111, Foakes 64, Pope 51, Nauman 4-126, Abrar 4-150) by 29 runs

On the second day of England’s third and final Test against Pakistan, Harry Brook scored his extraordinary series’ third hundred, giving England a 50-run lead in the first innings. Nauman Ali and Abrar Ahmed took eight wickets each, but they had to work hard on a slow, dry pitch, bowling 64.4 of England’s 81.4 overs.

Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood, Pakistan’s openers, finished nine spin overs to reduce the deficit to 29 runs. They will try to prevent England from being whitewashed for the first time on home soil on Monday by setting a challenging fourth-innings target.

With a back-foot punch through Abrar’s covers in the afternoon session, Brook reached three figures, receiving a standing ovation from the England balcony and Karachi’s National Stadium. He added 117 in a crucial sixth-wicket partnership with Ben Foakes, who made an attentive 64 in his tour debut.

After lunch, Brook ran out his captain, Ben Stokes, in the second over, ruining his afternoon. When Azhar Ali prepared to throw the ball in from deep midwicket, Brook worked Mohammad Wasim into the leg side and initially started coming back for a third run, but he scurried back to the keeper’s end with Stokes already charging down towards him.

Brook was able to sneak his bat over the popping crease just before Stokes, who responded by throwing his head back before giving Brook a calm thumbs up, as if to exonerate him for his role in the mix-up. This happened while Wasim was whipping the bails off at the other end. England was 145 for 5 at that point and still 159 runs behind in the first innings.

Test – 3
Karachi
At The End Of Session 6

ENG 2-4 PAK#ENGvPAK#PAKvENG#ENGvsPAK#PAKvsENG pic.twitter.com/QjU93g2UkK

— Cricket Info (@csuinfo) December 19, 2022

However, Brook persevered unabated and reached a 73-ball half-century with a top-edged sweep after ripping a pull through the leg side off Abrar. Foakes proved to be a suitable partner for him, overturning an early decision that had been made against him and calmly rotating the strike throughout the afternoon session.

When Abrar’s wrong’un hit the pad while the ball was coming up to short leg on number 9, fouls were called. He survived on both fronts, regardless of whether he had been given out caught or leg-before: there was no inside edge, and ball-following innovation anticipated the ball would have missed his leg stump.

Brook realized he had a chance to make money by the second drinks break because Pakistan had failed to perform. By standing tall and crushing Abrar through additional cover, he reached a fluent hundred off 133 balls and pumped Abrar back over his head for a straight six. He appeared at ease against both spinners.

In just his sixth innings, Brook scored his third hundred of his fledgling Test career.

Brook also broke Alastair Cook’s record for the most runs scored by an Englishman in an overseas Test series against Pakistan when he reached 94 runs (450 runs in 2015/16). He in the long run fell for 111, caught lbw by Wasim – his maiden Test wicket on debut – as the ball turned around.

England lost another wicket soon after, as Rehan Ahmed hacked his third ball to short midwicket, however Imprint Wood made a convenient 35 in a 51-run stand with Foakes and a last-wicket partnership worth 30 between Jack Drain and Ollie Robinson implied Pakistan confronted a huge deficiency.

Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope had appeared at ease earlier when they put together a 50-run stand for the second wicket on a pitch that was showing more signs of variable bounce on the second day. Wasim, making his debut, gave up three first-half goals and was taken out of the attack by Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan took over as captain for the first hour because Babar had a headache.

The other seamer in Pakistan’s lineup, Faheem Ashraf, only bowled one over that day. Duckett continued to sweep regularly as he has throughout the tour and brought up a 50 partnership when skipping down to loft Abrar back over his head for a straight six. Pope was busy, nudging singles and punching either side of the wicket.

The breakthrough was achieved by the spinner with the left arm, Nauman. He caught Duckett on the pad as he hung back rather than coming forward to a full ball and found a sharp spin outside of his off stump. He was given out and looked at the on-field decision to see if the ball had hit him outside the off stump’s line, but ball-tracking technology gave an “umpire’s call” on the impact.

And Nauman struck once more with his next pitch to extend Joe Root’s lackluster tour. Root’s tentative push flew to Salman Ali Agha at slip as he was bowled from around the wicket with a full ball that turned away from the bat. England went on to lose 58-3 after he missed a sharp, low chance just above the turf.

That brought Brook to the crease, where he calmly played the hat trick ball into the off side and made it clear that he was going to hit Abrar for six by skipping down the field to the sixth delivery he faced and swinging it high and powerfully back over his head.

Pakistan’s leg spinner was unaffected by Brook’s escape from Abrar’s trap on the crease, which resulted in a review for lbw, Babar returning to the field to send it upstairs. By slashing Nauman through point, Pope reached his third half-century of the tour before losing his off stump. He could only shake his head in disbelief as he was beaten by Abrar’s flashing leg break while standing back to counter the low bounce.

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Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum’s team reached another milestone when Brook swung Abrar back over his head for six more runs in the same over. It was England’s 88th six in men’s Tests in 2022, breaking India’s 2021 record for the most sixes by a group in a scheduled year (where information is accessible).