England found ways to take wickets and felt a good lead despite hundreds of three Pakistani players on the third day of the opening Test at Rawalpindi on Saturday. Pakistan were on stumps 499-7 with Agha Salman (10) and Zahid Mahmood (yet to score) in the crease – still behind England’s mammoth 657 first innings total with 158 runs, three wickets in hand. On a seesaw day, Pakistan was lifted from skipper Babar Azam (136) and openers Imam-ul-Haq (121) and Abdullah Shafique (114) for centuries. But England took three wickets in the first session, none in the second and another three before the close to put themselves in a better position.
If the tourists can force a lead of over 100 and score as they did in the first innings, they can still force a victory on a ground at Rawalpindi Stadium that has done little to help the bowlers.
Spinners Will Jacks (3-132) and Jack Leach (2-160) shared the early spoils, while the speed duo of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson took a wicket each.
Saturday’s final session was home captain Azam, who hit 19 boundaries and a six for his maiden Test hundred against England.
He cracked a boundary to cover opponent captain Ben Stokes to reach his eighth career Test century, this coming off 126 balls and studded with 13 boundaries.
Jacks forced a misdrive from Azam to catch him on point, and in the next over Mohammad Rizwan he played right into the hands of mid-wicket on Anderson.
Debutant Saud Shakil, who added 123 for the fourth wicket with Azam, was caught behind Robinson shortly after the tea break.
Earlier, Azam increased the pace in the second session after Pakistan lost centurions Shafique (114), Haq (121) and Azhar Ali (27) before lunch.
The centuries by Shafique and Haq meant for the first time in 146 years of Test cricket that both teams’ openers reached triple figures in the first innings.
Their opening stand of 225 runs – a Pakistani record against England – is also the first time in Test history that two more than 200 opening partnerships have been made, following Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett’s 233-run partnership for the visitors.
Pakistan started the day on 181 without a loss and Shafique, 89 overnight, was first to three digits with a sharp single from Joe Root.
Haq, who started the session at 90, followed with a boundary from the same bowler to complete his century.
They both now have three Test centuries and successive hundreds at the venue, also reaching triple figures against Australia in March this year.
Crawley (122), Duckett (107), Ollie Pope (108) and Harry Brook (153) scored centuries for England in their first innings.
The remaining tests are in Multan (December 9-13) and Karachi (December 17-21).
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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