Spinner Jack Leach snared 4-140 and England's youngest-ever test debutant Rehan Ahmed picked up two wickets to dismiss Pakistan for 304 in the third and final test on Saturday. (More Cricket News)
Pakistan hit back early through spinner Abrar Ahmed, who claimed Zak Crawley leg before wicket without scoring in his first over, and England finished the o𝄹pening day at 7-1. Ben Duckett (4 not out) and Ollie Pope (3 not out) are a🌳t the crease.
༺Abrar had a terrific test debut when he grabbed 11-234 at Multan in the second test but Pakistan still lost that thrilling game by 2ဣ6 runs inside four days.
Leach bowled ✃an 11-over spell in Karachi with the new ball and Ahmed overcame his nervy first five overs to finish with 2-89.
Ahmed's father, Naeem, was among a sparse crowd at the National Stadiu༒m and the proud dad was earlier in the England team's huddle when former captain Nasser Huss🦩ain handed Ahmed his test cap before the toss.
At the age of 18 years, 126 days, Ahmed is 23 days yo♛unger than Brian Clཧose, who made his test debut for England against New Zealand at Manchester in 1949.
Pakistan capta🀅in Babar Azam (78) and Agha Salman (56) hit composed half-centuries for the hosts, but England always came ༒back hard on another dry wicket which offered slow turn to both Leach and Ahmed.
Babar looked set for his second century of the series, but couldn't beat Harry Brook's timely throw and good work by wicket-keeper Ben Foakes in the final session and was run out. Leach had Salman stumped off a deliv♋ery, which spun sharply away from the right-hander before wrapping up the innings.
Ahmed replaced James Anderson after England rested the 40-year-old seamer with an unassailable 2-0 lead while Foakes returned after missing the first test due to i🗹llඣness.
Ahmed dismissed Saud Shakeel (23) for hi💙s lowest score in the series when he had the left-hander caught close to the wicket by a diving Ollie Pope in his seventh over, but Babar c🌱ontinued to dominate the leg-spinner and took Pakistan to 204-5 by tea.
Ahmed th♑en dried up the runs in the last session and also had Faheem Ashraf trapped lbw off a perfect googly from round the wicket.
England, looking for a rare 3-0 clean sweep in its first test tour to Pakistan in 17 years, had made early inroads after Babar won his first toss in the series and choseꦬ to bat.
Azhar Ali fell for 45 in his farewell test match at the stroke of lunch after Ollie Robinson's short pitch delivery down the leg side caught the gloves of the right-hander. Azhar, who announced his retirement from test crꦬicket on Friday, was snapped up by Foakes and the television replays confirmed it was a clean catch as Pakistan rea𝓀ched 117-3.
Azhar was recalled for his last test after being left out of the second test due to poor form. Azhar, playing in his 9♍7th test, replaced all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz.
England continued to experiment with its uncoꦬnventional and aggressive style of play in test matches that saw the visito𝓡rs win the first test by 74 runs at Rawalpindi on a flat wicket and also win a thriller in Multan.
England surprised Pakistan from the onset when Leach bowled for more than an hour with the new ball. Leach ꦏfeatured in the dismissals of both openers before Azhar and Babar show𝐆ed plenty of aggression against Ahmed.
Babar shared a 71-run stand with Azhar 🍌and dominated spinners before Robinson broke the threatening stand just befoℱre the first session.
Left-handed Shan Masood -- one of the four changes Pakistan made from the last test – scored a brisk 30 off 37 balls before he top-edged Mark Wood to fine leg midway🉐 into the first session.
Masood, replacing injured Imam-ul-Haq up in the order, showed early aggression when he hit Leach🍌 for two successive boundaries to the onside befor🎐e Leach took a smart catch in the deep.
Leach had earlier struck in his second over when he had Abdullah Shafique trapped lbw for 8 in his third over with a new ball that skidded off the wicketꦇ and hit t🅰he batter on the front pad.
Leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood, who took 12 wickets in two test matches, was dropped and left-arm spinner Nauman Ali made his first appearance of the series📖.
Pakistan, already without its key fast bowlers for the series because of injuries, awarded a test debut to🐎 Mohammad Wasim. The 21-year-old fast bowler replaced seamer Mohammad Ali.
