PAK vs ENG, 3rd Test, Day 3: England 354 and 112 for 2 (Duckett 50*, Stokes 10*) need 55 more runs to beat Pakistan 304 and 216 (Babar 54, Shakeel 53, Rehan 5-48, Leach 3-72)

After Rehan Ahmed became the youngest player to take a five-wicket haul on debut at 18 years and 128 days, England needs another 55 runs to win the third Test in Karachi and wipe out Pakistan for the first time in a men’s Test series on home soil.

Rehan, who was held back by Ben Stokes until the fourth hour of the third day, won the game for England by breaking a determined fourth-wicket stand between Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam. He then ran through the middle and lower order to score 5 for 48 in his fourth first-class appearance.

Britain were set 167 to win and with an ostensible 22 overs left on the third night, they set about attempting to pursue the runs before the nearby. Rehan was elevated to No. 1 after Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett scored 87 runs in 11.3 overs. 3 as a “night-hawk” and Stokes attempted to hit Nauman Ali for six with his bat in front of the square leg umpire, but bad light intervened with 55 more runs needed.

After waiting a long time before returning to the attack, Rehan made a similar impact on the game in a five-over burst before the tea break. In the morning session, Jack Leach had taken three wickets in a row to eliminate Pakistan’s top order.

After scoring his second half-century of the match, Babar took his first wicket, a freebie, by pulling a drag-down straight to Ollie Pope at short midwicket. However, his next two balls were excellent: The second was a legbreak that grabbed Mohammad Rizwan and reached the outside edge of his body; Shakeel top-edged the third, a hard-spun googly that Shakeel squared to square leg on the sweep.

In the evening session, Rehan came back to finish off the lower order

Salman Ali Agha missed a sweep to backward square leg after Mohammad Wasim hit him in the middle of the ring. He performed a sajdah by sinking to his knees and beaming from ear to ear as he led the team out. As he applauded, his father, Naeem, who was watching from the stands, wiped away tears.

Crawley skidded down and whipped the first ball through wide midfield for four as the sprint toward the finish line began. As Pakistan’s shoulders dropped, Duckett and his opening partner traded boundaries, and England reached 58 for 0 after six overs.

Babar turned to his seamers, who temporarily slowed the scoring, giving the impression that the game would continue into the fourth day. However, England continued to attack. Rehan strode out after batting at No. 2 when Abrar Ahmed trapped Crawley lbw. 8 in the first inning, and his first pitch went deep for four.

England fell just short of the finish line despite the best efforts of Stokes and Duckett, who quietly scored a 38-ball half-century, his fourth 50-plus score of the series. He lost his off stump shortly after for a shot-a-ball 10 off 8. On the fourth morning, they are unlikely to remain.

Prior to losing his leg stump while bottom-edging an attempted reverse sweep off Leach, Shan Masood had hit the first two balls of the day for four as Pakistan attempted to increase their lead.

England’s fielders gave Azhar Ali a handshake, but his final innings before retiring from international cricket were too short. His fourth ball was full and pitched on leg stump; however, as he attempted to whip his wrists through midwicket, he abruptly turned away from the bat. It collided with the stump’s top. Azhar trudged through his teammates’ honor guard as he left.

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Leach struck once more at the beginning of his next over, trapping Shafique lbw with a ball that skidded off the field. Shakeel played through the hat trick, but Pakistan were only 4 for 3. He joined Babar during the lunch break for a stand that ended up being worth 110, but the game was changed when Rehan came in half an hour before tea.