Sports Report
KARACHI: England’s young leg spinner Rehan Ahmed took five wickets on his test debut to put England on course for a comfortable victory in the final test match against Pakistan in the Karachi test on Monday Pak vs Eng.
With two days remaining of the Karachi test, England need 55 runs to manage victory and become the first test team to complete a 3-0 whitewash in Pakistan. England had won the first two tests in Multan and Rawalpindi.
Ahmed’s leg-spin bowling proved to be the game-changer for Ben Stokes’s team as wickets tumbled in clusters at the Karachi National Stadium.
The spinner became the youngest debutant in men’s test history to pick five wickets, beating Australia’s Pat Cummins’s record.
After scoring 304 runs in the first innings, the Pakistan team was bowled out for 216 runs in the second innings, setting England a target of 167 runs. England scored 354 runs in their first innings.
Earlier, spinner Jack Leach took three wickets in just six balls in the morning session before captain Babar Azam and debuted Saud Shakeel struck a 110-run crucial partnership to keep their side in the contest.
Pak vs Eng : Karachi test first inning
But Stokes introduced Ahmed in the afternoon session, and the youngster ripped apart Pakistan s middle order.
Resuming an overnight inning of 21-0, trailing by 29 runs, Babar led side lost the opener, Shan Masood, for 24 runs while Azhar Ali was sent back for a duck in his final test appearance as he has announced retirement from test cricket.
Half-centuries by Saud and Babar added some life to Pakistan s fight, but Ahmed derailed their revival with three vital wickets.
The 18-year-old got his biggest scalp when Ollie Pope caught Babar in mid-wicket, and Ahmed later picked wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan.
Ahmed completed his five-wicket haul by picking Agha Salman, leading the England team off the field as he tossed the ball in his hands in celebration.
Joe Root and Mark Wood were also among the wicket-takers.
