DUBAI – Pakistan’s bowlers wore down a tough resistance from England’s tail to win the second Test by 178 runs in Dubai on Monday, 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.
Pakistan had sensed victory at lunch with just four wickets to take but first Rashid and Stuart 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 8-285 at tea with 31 overs remaining to bat for a draw. Pakistan could have finished the game before the break but Mohammad Hafeez dropped a regulation catch in slip when Rashid edged a Shah delivery when on 42.
Rashid completed his maiden fifty soon after tea, pushing for a quick single off Raiz. It took him 110 balls of defiance to reach the mark including five boundaries.
In all Rashid batted for 172 balls, hitting seven boundaries.
The victory was important for Pakistan after they narrowly escaped defeat in the first Test in Abu Dhabi.
