Sajid Khan criticizes teammates for dropping catches in England’s first innings of third Test, questions quality of pitch Rawalpindi pitch
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) — Jamie Smith raised his half-century off 94 balls and accelerated against leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood before top-edging a slog sweep against Mahmood just before tea to miss out on a second century in his ninth test. He scored 89 and shared a 105-run partnership with Gus Atkinson (39) to take England’s total to 267.
Ali dismissed Atkinson, who offered a tame return catch.
Earlier, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali bowled all 30 overs before lunch and suppressed the tourist’s aggression after captain Ben Stokes won England’s first toss in eight tests.
England stuttered to 110-5 in the first session after a good start by openers Ben Duckett (52) and Zak Crawley (29).
Duckett and Crawley raised a half-century stand inside the first dozen overs with sweeps and reverse sweeps. But England lost five wickets in the next 13 overs.
“The pitch helped us for the first 25 overs, but when the ball got soft it was difficult to spin the ball,” Khan said. “I varied my pace and used the crease, which helped me to take wickets.”
Ali lured Crawley to drive on the offside but the ball flew to backward point, and Khan pinned Ollie Pope (3) and Joe Root (5) leg before wicket in consecutive overs.
Duckett was out in the same over he reached 50, lbw on the back foot to an Ali delivery which didn’t rise above ankle height. Harry Brook (5) dragged his sweep shot against Khan onto his stumps.
But Khan rued Pakistan allowing Smith and Atkinson to share a century stand as he dropped a difficult catch at long-off of Smith and Saud Shakeel also couldn’t judge an overhead catch close to the boundary.
“Smith played a brilliant knock, but we dropped some chances,” Khan said. “Otherwise, we could have bowled them out under 200.”
The pitch encouraged England to include Rehan Ahmed as a third specialist spinner beside Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir.
Off-spinner Bashir gave England the first wicket when he trapped Abdullah Shafique leg before on the back foot and Saim Ayub fell into an England trap by giving a head-high catch to Root at short mid-wicket.
“We would have liked to go with one down, but we lost three wickets,” Khan said. “Now we need a good healthy lead as Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel should bat for the first hour and we must keep wickets in hand.”
Pakistan retained the XI which ended an 11-test, three-year winless run at home.
Comments are closed.