England resume batting on day 4 as Pakistan eye victory in second Test

England returned to the crease at the Multan Cricket Stadium on day 4 of the second Test at 36-2 in their second innings on Friday as Pakistan plans to seal a victory.

The fourth day began with Ollie Pope (21*) and Joe Root (12*) on strike. However, as part of the Green Shirts’ early wickets, Pope (22) was sent to the dug-out soon after the game’s resumption, as the hosts’ third wicket.

Pakistan need eight wickets to win the second Test while England require 261 runs.

Earlier on Thursday, the third day came to an end with England scoring 36/2 within 11 overs as they tried to chase Pakistan’s 297-run target, which the Shan Masood-led side secured after grabbing a handy lead of 296 runs with the help of Salman Agha’s 63 in their second innings.

Previously, Pakistan scored 366 runs in their first innings, in response to which the English team was bowled out for 291 runs, leaving them with a deficit of 75 runs.

Shan Masood and Co. scored 221 in the second innings with Salman Ali Agha scoring 63 runs.

Meanwhile, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started the second innings, however, headed towards the boundary after scoring few runs for the team.

With Crawley leaving after scoring three runs as Mohammad Rizwan whipped off the ball.

Duckett, on the other hand, scored zero runs and was dismissed when Sajid Khan delivered the third ball of the first over.

It is worth noting that Pakistan’s spinner Sajid Khan bagged seven wickets and Noman Ali took three while delivering against England in the first innings.

Playing XI

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (captain), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan and Zahid Mehmood

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Matt Potts, Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir