Pakistan did not just stay alive at Edgbaston on the third evening. They lit the place up.
From the brink of another underwhelming innings to 449 all out – their highest total of the series – Shan Masood’s side produced a day that swung from grit to chaos to outright theatre, leaving England chasing 130 and the narrative of this Test suddenly twisted out of shape.
Steady hands in the morning
The day began quietly enough. Azan Awais and Shan Masood, who had already built a half-century stand overnight, walked out with the kind of caution that comes from a series of bruises.
Jofra Archer went short early, testing ribs and reflexes, while Gus Atkinson hammered away at a hard length. They were hard to get away. Josh Tongue was not. Whenever he overpitched or strayed, the scoreboard moved. There was just enough movement to keep the slips interested, not enough to truly disturb two batters who had decided they were staying.
Either side of the first drinks break, both Awais and Masood raised composed half-centuries. Pakistan, for once on this tour, looked unhurried and unflustered.
The calm did not last.
Spin, a faint edge, and Root’s sharp review
England turned to spin for the first time in the Test and it took only moments to change the mood. Dan Lawrence drifted one down the leg side, Awais looked to glance, and there was the faintest of deviations on its way through to the keeper.
The umpire said no. Close catchers barely appealed. Joe Root did not hesitate. One swift review later, UltraEdge confirmed the nick and Awais was gone. A promising innings cut off just as it threatened to deepen England’s problems.
Pakistan, though, had their captain.
Masood and Babar restore authority
Masood found a new partner in Babar Azam, a name that had carried weight all series without runs to match. Until now. Having failed to reach double figures in the previous innings of the tour, the Pakistan skipper finally looked like himself.
The pair stitched together an 89-run stand, full of clean strokes and controlled risk. Masood anchored, Babar flowed. England’s seamers probed, changed angles, tinkered with fields. The batters’ application did not crack.
Masood’s departure, agonisingly five short of a century, came from a piece of individual brilliance. Lawrence, this time in the gully, flung himself low to his left and plucked a one-handed catch that would have looked good on any highlight reel. Pakistan’s captain watched his set partner walk off, but he stayed in command.
For a while.
Short-ball plan bites back
Babar looked increasingly assured as the afternoon wore on. England, running out of conventional ideas, went back to an old one. They went short.
Archer banged it in. Tongue followed the script. Fields shuffled to leg. For several overs, Babar rode it out, swaying, ducking, occasionally rolling his wrists on the pull. The duel crackled.
Then came the lapse. Tongue speared one down the leg side, Babar glanced, and the trap finally snapped shut. Another Pakistan batter, well set and eyeing three figures, walked off shaking his head.
Seven overs later, the same ploy undid Saud Shakeel. Looking to fend a rising ball away, he only managed to glove it to short leg. The method was simple. The execution, ruthless.
Collapse threatens to undo the work
When the final session began, Pakistan were only 23 runs behind with five wickets in hand. The game, finally, felt level.
England yanked it back in a burst.
Shakeel, Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran Randhawa all departed before Pakistan could even clear the deficit. The innings, which had promised control and substance for much of the day, suddenly stood on the edge of another familiar cliff.
Two wickets in hand. Still behind. England circling.
Then the script was ripped up.
Razaullah explodes into the series
Razaullah, 21 years old and on debut, walked in and chose violence.
He launched an assault that turned a fragile position into a statement. By the time he was done, he had clubbed nine sixes – the most ever by a debutant – in an astonishing 63-ball 81 that stunned England and electrified Pakistan’s dressing room.
The onslaught started early. Gus Atkinson bore the brunt first, Razaullah sending him three times over the ropes in a single over. The bat swing was clean, the intent unmistakable. Any attempt to drag the length back only fed his arc.
There was a brief lull as he recalibrated. Then he stepped out to Archer, of all bowlers, and muscled him high over long-off to reach his half-century. It was not just power; it was audacity against England’s quickest.
At the other end, Mohammad Abbaas played the perfect foil. He left well, nudged singles, and cashed in when the bowlers lost their lines. His 42 did not roar, but it allowed Razaullah to.
As the partnership grew, so did the freedom in Razaullah’s strokeplay. England spread the field, then dragged it back in, searching for a mis-hit that never quite came. The pair added 121 for the ninth wicket, hauling Pakistan not just past parity but into a position of real authority.
By the time Tongue finally prised out Abbaas on 42, Pakistan’s lead had swelled to 119. The mood in the middle had flipped completely.
Lead secured, stage set
Razaullah added 10 more runs to the total, still swinging, still refusing to retreat into caution. His innings ended as it had begun, with Lawrence involved again – this time with the ball, luring him out of his crease and having him stumped as the last wicket to fall.
Pakistan’s 449 left England needing 130. A modest chase on paper, but under the weight of a series narrative that has suddenly shifted, it feels anything but routine.
After a day like this, with a debutant rewriting records and a fragile batting unit finally baring its teeth, the question is no longer whether Pakistan can compete.
It is whether England can hold their nerve.
