(ESPNCRICINFO) – Razaullah and Mohammad Abbas continued to fight the good fight led by Shan Masood as Pakistan forced England to chase 130 for victory in the third and final Test at Edgbaston.
Razaullah, the 21-year-old debutant who had bowled with eye-catching pace and passion for four wickets in England’s first innings, took the same fire to his batting at No. 9 with a 121-run stand for the ninth wicket with Abbas.
He smashed three sixes off Gus Atkinson in the space of four balls and another off Josh Tongue amid nine in all – equalling Tim Southee’s record for a Test debutant – as he plundered 81 off 63 balls to hand Pakistan a 129-run lead.
It was a scenario that had looked unlikely on a third day when England had more than once looked on track for another innings victory or a token run chase at best. But the hosts had no riposte to Razaullah and Abbas, who peppered the stands and the boundary rope, Abbas reaching a career-best 42.
With the tourists eight wickets down and leading by 30 runs, England took the second new ball but couldn’t make inroads against the experience of Abbas and power of Razaullah, who brought up Pakistan’s fastest fifty by a debutant in just 43 balls with the first of back-to-back sixes off Jofra Archer.
Abbas eventually picked out Atkinson at backward point off Tongue late in the day and Razaullah almost forgot to review when he was given out lbw to a Dan Lawrence ball that was missing leg stump. He was last man out next ball, however, advancing to Lawrence and stumped by Jordan Cox for 81.
Masood too fell agonisingly short of his century but led a collective show of grit the like of which Pakistan had failed to muster all series, backed up by fifties from his captain, Babar Azam, opener Azan Awais and Razaullah’s boundary laden effort.
Pakistan’s abject batting display on the first day, when they were bowled out for 133 inside 34 overs, hadn’t helped their cause but Masood’s 95 on Friday was key in making England bat again.
Masood and Awais – survivors amid the cull of players and coaching staff after the Lord’s Test, which also resulted in Razaullah being called up – put on a 125-run partnership, Pakistan’s first century stand of the series, to lift their side from a dire 2 for 0 while staring at a first-innings deficit of 320.
Masood and Babar added another 89 for the fourth wicket and Pakistan trailed by just 23 at tea. But England’s short-ball barrage accounted for Babar and Saud Shakeel, the last of Pakistan’s recognised batters.
