The Rawalpindi pitch has kept Pakistan vs England Test match in the news over the last few days. Even Pakistan’s legendary batsman termed the pitch as “embarrassing” as bowlers struggled to pick the wickets, whereas batsmen scored freely at their will.
England scored 657 in the first innings whereas Pakistan made 579 and conceded 78 runs lead to the opposition. The Three Lions then played aggressively and notched 264 for the loss of seven wickets before declaring the innings.
Pakistan had a target of 343 runs in four sessions of the game to win the Test match. Pakistan lost two of their wickets within 25 runs in the fourth inning. However, the counter-attacking batting display from Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, and Mohammad Rizwan kept Pakistan in the hunt. Pakistan were 198 for the loss of five wickets when Saud Shakeel was dismissed.
When England thought that they were closing down on the win, Agha Salman and Azhar Ali stood tall between England and the victory with classic batting display. England’s left-arm spinner, Jack Leach produced a moment of brilliance just before the tea interval, but the controversial Decision Review System (DRS) decision robbed him of the chance.
What happened with DRS?
Jack Leach bowled a peach delivery to put Agha Salman in the spot of bother. Despite the delivery hitting the pads, the umpire ruled “not-out”. After the consultation with his teammates, Ben Stokes opted for a review.
The ball was pitching in line and had impact in-line but it did not hit the wickets. Let alone hitting the wickets, it did not even clip the stumps. Considering how the pitch behaved over the last four days, the bounce seemed unnatural.
Watch Here:
How did that miss the wicket ?? DRS is mad ahahahaha pic.twitter.com/1LDwPyEsLN
— Bilal (@Jattaa_21) December 5, 2022
The resilience of Agha Salman came to an end in the final session of the game, though. Ollie Robinson’s extracted outrageous swing, hitting the pads, eventually. Though he was judged not-out initially, Ben Stokes opted for review, which overturned the original decision.
At time of writing, Pakistan need 81 more runs with three wickets in hand. A minimum of 33 overs are left to be played, but the game can conclude early considering the bad light.
