England on Saturday resumed their second innings from 24-3 on the third day of the final Test against Pakistan with the hosts looking to them in hopes of clinching the three-match series currently tied at 1-1.
A day earlier, the Ben Stokes-led side began their second innings following the conclusion of Pakistan’s 344-run first innings total.
However, the English side suffered two early blows as openers Ben Duckett (12) and Zak Crawley (2) were dismissed by Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, respectively.
Noman then further dismissed Ollie Pope (1) effectively the visitors on the backfoot.
With Joe Root (10*) and Harry Brook (5*) on the crease, England are trailing by 44 runs with the score at 33-3.
Earlier, Saud Shakeel crafted a gritty century to haul Pakistan back into the contest.
Pakistan were reeling 46-3 on Thursday in their first innings before Saud went on to forge three 50-plus partnerships to help them reach 267-8 at tea.
His 88-run stand with an equally defiant Noman Ali (45) for the eighth wicket helped Pakistan regain much of the ground they had lost in the match.
Saud hit only four fours in his painstaking knock that stood out for its discipline.
The match being played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium is part of the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship 2023-25.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (c), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk, Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mehmood
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
