Abu Dhabi : Leg-spinner Adil Rashid took a five wicket haul to trigger a Pakistan collapse but England fell 25 runs short of a dramatic win in the first Test on Saturday.
Rashid, who had the worst bowling figures on debut in the first innings of 0-163, had an unbelievable change in his fortunes as he grabbed 5-64 to dismiss Pakistan for 173 on the fifth day..
England tried hard to chase down the 99-run target in a possible 19 overs but umpires called off play eight overs early due to bad light with the visitors on 74-4. Joe Root finished with 33 in the fading light as Pakistan attacked with spinner Zulfiqar Babar (2-27) and Shoaib Malik (2-25) to keep the slate clean in the three-match series. A result had looked highly unlikely on the fifth morning as England, replying to Pakistan’s 523-8 declared, closed their first innings at 598-9. But Pakistan’s notoriously undependable batting changed the complexion as Rashid exploited the rough with seven wickets falling for 71 runs, the last five for only 14 in the post tea session.
Only skipper Misbah-ul-Haq put up some resistance with 51 on a day when 15 wickets fell, compared to 16 over the first four days.
England went after the target with Jos Butler joining Moeen Ali as opener but Pakistan checked them with some accurate bowling. England lost Butler (4), Ali (11), Ben Stokes (two) and Jonny Bairstow (15) in the 11 overs. It was a lucky escape for Pakistan as there have been 14 previous instances when teams had lost a Test after scoring 500 points or more, the highest by Australia when they lost to England.
Pak 1st innings: 523-decl
Eng 1st innings 598/9
Pak 2nd innings: 173
Eng 2nd innings
M Ali c Malik b Babar………………..11
J Butler lbw b Malik……………………4
J Root not out………………………….33
B Stokes c Hafeez b Malik……………2
J Bairstow st Ahmed b Babar……..15
I Bell not out……………………………..5
Extras: lb2, w2…………………………4
Total: For 4 wkts……………………..74
FoW: 1-13, 2-29, 3-35, 4-66.
Bowling: Babar 5-0-27-2, Malik 4-0-25-2, Riaz 2-0-20-0.
