 "This is Pakistan's first Test victory at home since 2021. Image: Reuters")
Pakistan ended their 11-match winless run at home on Friday as left-arm spinner Noman Ali claimed eight wickets in the hosts’ 152-run victory over England in the second Test in Multan. Pakistan who lost the first Test by an innings and 47 runs have now levelled the three-match series at 1-1.
Chasing 297 for victory on a turning track at the Multan Cricket Stadium, England were all out for 144 in the fourth day’s morning session.
Skipper Ben Stokes was the top scorer for England with 37 but their frontline batters struggled against the turning ball. Noman was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers claiming 8-46.
Pak spinners shine bright
This is also the first Test win for Shan Masood as Pakistan captain and he would have to thank his spinners Noman and Sajid Khan who took all 20 wickets in the match on a pitch that was also used during the first Test of the series.
Noman and Sajid are the sixth bowling pair to take all 20 wickets in a Test match.
Bowling pairs with all 20 wickets in a Test match:
M Noble (13) & H Trumble (7) vs ENG, Melbourne, 1902
C Blythe (11) & G Hurst (9) vs AUS, Birmingham, 1909
B Vogler (12) & A Faulkner (8) vs ENG, Jo’burg, 1910
J Laker (19) & T Lock (1) vs AUS, Manchester, 1956
F Mahmood (13) & Khan Mohammad (7) vs AUS, Karachi, 1956
B Massie (16) & Denis Lillee (4) vs ENG, Lord’s, 1972
Sajid Khan (9) & Noman Ali (11) vs ENG, Multan, 2024
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAlso, this is the first instance of two Pakistani spinners taking a five-wicket haul in the same Test match since 1987.
Read: Who is Sajid Khan, the spin sensation from Pakistan
“First one is always special, it has come after some hard times,” Masood said after the win. “A lot has happened over the last week. You have to applaud the group. You can’t doubt the effort. It’ll be special for everyone. We were able to pick 20 wickets and post decent totals. A change of strategy. We tried green seamers against Bangladesh. We haven’t played too much Test cricket in Multan. Noman and Sajid coming in, it’s never easy, they looked like seasoned campaigners.”
What happened on Friday in Multan
Pakistan were already in the ascendancy when England resumed on 36-2 needing an extraordinary batting effort to get anywhere near the target of 297.
Vice-captain Ollie Pope (22) fell in the second over of the day, giving off-spinner Sajid Khan a return catch before left-arm spinner Noman ran amok.
Noman dealt the tourists a body blow when he trapped Joe Root lbw for 18, a decision the batter reviewed but could not get overturned.
Harry Brook (16) fell to Noman in a similar fashion and England slumped to 88-6 when Jamie Smith was sent packing.
Stokes has played some match-defining knocks in his illustrious career and England badly needed a similar innings from him.
The captain, scoring at a run-a-ball rate, came dancing down the track against Noman and swung his bat only for it to fly out of his hands to midwicket.
Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan had all the time in the world to collect the ball and whip off the bail with Stokes well out of the crease.
The third and final Test begins in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
With agency inputs