England completed a clean sweep as they won all three matches against Pakistan. The third test of the series started on December 17, and after playing for four days, England sealed the victory today.
Toss: Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first in the 3rd match.
1st Innings of Pakistan
Winning the toss, Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood came into the pitch to start the innings for Pakistan. But Pakistan lost an early wicket as Abdullah Shafique departed the pitch with 8 runs only.
Shan Masood added 30 runs, but Azar Ali helped Pakistan make a big score. With Babar Azam, Azar Ali added 71 runs. However, Azar Ali lost his wicket after adding 45 runs. On the other side, Babar Azam didn’t miss the half-century. He scored the highest 78 runs for Pakistan. In addition, Agha Salman scored 56 runs in the lower order. Relying on their scores, Pakistan ended their first innings with 304 runs.
1st Innings of England
England started poorly in their first innings. Zak Crawley lost his wicket in the very first over. But, Ben Ducket and Ollie Pope handled the situation smartly. They added 58 runs together on the scoreboard. In the 13th over, England lost two back-to-back wickets. Ben Ducket and Joe Root returned to the pavilion in that over. However, Harry Brook scored a brilliant century in this innings, which helped England to score 354 runs.
2nd Innings of Pakistan
English bowlers dominated the second innings of Pakistan. They were very aggressive against the Pakistani batters. England’s bowler Rehan Ahmed picked up five wickets alone. Jack Leach also took three wickets for England.
For Pakistan, captain Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel got half-centuries each. But their partnership couldn’t help Pakistan to score more than 216 runs. Therefore, England needed only 167 runs to win this match.
2nd Innings of England
Chasing the target, England had a brilliant start. Zak Crawley and Ben Ducket added 87 runs together on the scoreboard. Although Zak Crawley departed the pitch with 41 runs, Ben Duckett scored the highest 82 runs for England.
England lost one more wicket as Rehan Ahmed lost his wicket to Abrar Ahmed. But it didn’t affect the result. England comfortably won the match by eight wickets.