adminDUBAI. — Pakistan’s bowlers wore down tough resistance from England’s tail to win the second Test cricket by an emphatic 178-run margin in Dubai yesterday, taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Leg-spinner Yasir Shah (4-87) and left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar (3-53) shared the bowling honours as England, set a daunting 491-run target, were bowled out for 312 late on the fifth day with just 6.3 overs left in the match at Dubai stadium.
A win early in the day was very much on the cards, but England’s ninth wicket pair of Rashid and Mark Wood (29) put up a valiant fight for 29.2 overs through their 55-run partnership. Babar ended Wood’s resistance while Shah finished the match by ending Rashid’s 239-minute resistance by having him caught in the covers in the fading light as Pakistan fielders embraced each other.
Pakistan had sensed victory at lunch with just four wickets to take but first Rashid and Broad frustrated them through their 60-run stand for the eighth wicket and then the Rashid-Wood stand lasted for nearly two-and-half hours. Before tea Riaz bowled Broad to bring Pakistan two wickets closer to the win, but Rashid and Wood carried England to 285-8 at tea with 31 overs remaining to bat for a draw. — AFP.
Online Reporter