Rehan Ahmed five-for on Test debut gives England 167 target for series sweep

Innings break Pakistan 304 and 216 (Babar 54, Shakeel 53, Ahmed 5-48, Leach 3-72) lead England 354 by 166 runs

He returned in the evening session to polish off the lower order, celebrating with a sajda after Salman Ali Agha top-edged a sweep to Harry Brook at backward square-leg. He beamed from ear to ear as he led the team off at the interval, with his father Naeem applauding in the stands.

England need 167 runs to win the Karachi Test and have 22 overs left to bat in the final session to put a significant dent in that target. Pakistan need ten wickets to avoid being on the wrong end of a series whitewash on home soil for the first time in their Test history.

Babar and Shakeel had batted with control and patience for an hour either side of the lunch interval. Stokes, who had not bowled a ball since the final session of the first Test in Rawalpindi, found a hint of reverse-swing as he grimaced through an eight-over spell but toiled without success.

Ahmed rushed through his first over of the day and when he was punched through the covers by Babar in his second, he dragged his next ball down. Babar – who had earlier reached his half-century thanks to four overthrows – rocked back and pulled firmly, but somehow picked out Ollie Pope at short midwicket; Pope could scarcely believe his luck as he took a sharp chance.

Suddenly, both spinners were in the game as Leach returned to bowl in tandem, and Pakistan began to offer chances. Pope, under the helmet at short leg and silly point, was not far away from two defensive shots off Leach, which landed agonisingly out of his reach.

Ahmed created another chance when Mohammad Rizwan punched uppishly to short extra-cover, only for Zak Crawley to let a tough, low chance squirm through his grasp, but he was dismissed off the very next ball. He prodded forwards to Ahmed’s legbreak, which took the outside edge and was snaffled by Ben Foakes, his 50th catch as a Test wicketkeeper.

Shakeel, who had reached his fourth half-century in his first six Test innings, held the key, but fell shortly before tea to an ill-judged shot. He failed to account for the extra bounce that Ahmed’s googly would generate, top-edging a sweep straight to square leg. Suddenly, Pakistan were six down with a lead of just 127.

Faheem Ashraf fell shortly after tea to Joe Root, edging an attacking shot behind, before Noman Ali was out lbw on review to Mark Wood. Mohammad Wasim miscued Ahmed to mid-off, before Salman miscued a sweep to hand him his five-for.

Earlier, Shan Masood had started with positive intent after battling through the stumps on the second evening and hit the first two balls of the third day for four, slashing Root through the gully and driving him through the covers. He skipped down to his fifth ball, chipping him down the ground for four more, and lofted a straight six to prompt an early change, with Leach replacing him after only two overs.

Abdullah Shafique struck a couple of boundaries, taking on Wood’s short ball and pulling Pakistan into the lead by finding the gap between fine leg and deep-backward square-leg, but Leach struck in his second over of the day. Masood, still playing positively, got low to reverse-sweep, but Leach found some turn from a fullish length outside his off stump and Masood could only bottom-edge on to the base of leg.

Azhar Ali was greeted with handshakes by England’s fielders but his final innings before his retirement from international cricket was all too brief. His fourth ball was full, pitching on leg stump, but turned sharply away from the bat as he looked to whip through midwicket. It crashed into the top of middle and off, and Azhar trudged off through a guard of honour from his team-mates.

He had earlier been presented with a commemorative plaque and a shirt signed by his team-mates before play, and had his family watching in the stands. He finished his Test career with 7142 runs at 42.26 and 19 hundreds.

At the start of his next over, Leach struck again. He trapped Shafique lbw, sliding one on to his front pad from around the wicket; Shafique didn’t review, but ball-tracking technology subsequently predicted that the ball would have hit leg stump halfway up. Shakeel survived the hat-trick ball, but Pakistan were effectively 4 for 3.

Shakeel and Babar opted to dig in before the lunch break, both scoring at a strike rate below 45. They were cautious against Leach, who got the occasional ball to turn, and Robinson, who found some reverse-swing during a five-over burst and struck Shakeel on the helmet with a sharp bouncer.

Babar survived a tight lbw shout on review, having shimmied down and pushed Leach into the off side after the ball had flicked his front pad. England queried Joel Wilson’s on-field decision, but Babar was saved by the fact the impact occurred more than three metres from his stumps.