Once again, Pakistan faced a setback in its Test cricket escapade with yet another loss more humiliating than the previous one, this time at the hands of Ollie Pope’s England in Multan. The visitors emerged victorious by an innings and 47 runs thereby taking the lead in the three-match series 1-0.
This defeat was a new low for Pakistan as they became the first team in the Test playing nations to lose a match by an innings after having batted first and scored above 500 runs. This loss was their sixth in a row in the longest version and seventh on home in the past nine matches played. Currently, there is a home record in Pakistan of 0%-win percentage as no victories have come since – 2022 – 6 losses and 4 draws from the 10 matches played.
The hosts had by far the better of them in the Multan Test with the bowlers out of action as they had 556 runs to their name with three centuries from Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood, and Salman Agha coming late, and at the end of the innings. The two-day batting dominance from Pakistan batters looked promising in terms of where they stood at that point of the match.
Yet England replied with a batting master class of their own. Joe Root and Harry Brook put on a staggering 454 runs as a pair, breaking all records in the history books and leaving the statisticians working in overdrive.
While Brook became the sixth Englishman to achieve the feat of scoring a triple century, Root came tantalizingly close to a triple ton but played enough runs to surpass Sir Alastair Cook to become the highest Test run-scorer for England. Their massive partnership helped England in amassing 823 runs in 7 wickets, which was notably the highest recorded total in Test Cricket after that of 4th innings before getting declared.
Throughout the first innings, the pitch presented a batting paradise, only to break down later with uneven bounce and wider cracks. This period of breakdown did not last long with the English seam attack, which consisted of Woakes, Carse, and Atkinson, putting the conditions to good use. This period of play was a massacre for Pakistan’s top and middle order batting who were already at risk on a difficult surface.
In the second innings, four wickets fell to the spinner Jack Leach in quick succession. Pakistan, coming back on the fifth and final day with a score of 152-6 managed to last for 96 minutes but was eventually bowled out for 220, with Leach, who was the most successful bowler for England, returning bowling figures of 4-30.
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