Pakistan survive on last day against England after first Test ends in draw

Abu Dhabi - It could have almost proven costly after England forced Pakistan into a corner, but light brought an end to what was a thrilling drama.

After four days of tediousness and drudgery, there was an implosion. And that served up a tantalising final session on the fifth and final day between Pakistan and England. The sleeping beauty that was the Zayed Cricket Stadium pitch, woke up from its slumber, and so did this Abu Dhabi Test. And Pakistan imploded under the weight of it.
It could have almost proven costly after England forced Pakistan into a corner, but light brought an end to what was a thrilling drama.
After 1,294 runs and 27 wickets until the final session, it was the 99 runs that mattered. This Test had gone on to become a T20 and England had a go at it after Adil Rashid's five-for on debut in the second innings. But Pakistan just about hung on to see another day in Dubai.
A draw was written all over this one going into the final day after both Pakistan and England had racked up over 500 runs each. But England captain Alastair Cook's smart declaration with 75 runs in the bag, showed that the tourists were trying to make a match of this.
With Pakistan, traditionally, one never knows which side would turn up on the day. Unfortunately, it was the imploding one which walked out of the dressing room. England pacer James Anderson and the two spinners Mooen Ali and Adil Rashid raised visions of a first win against Pakistan since Lord's 2010, after wrapping up the hosts for 173.
And then, 99 runs to chase in 19 overs it was, and England went at it with feverish pace, with time as well as the fading light against them. They were almost there but then, not quite.
After the floodlights lit up and the city too turned on its lights, umpires Bruce Oxenford and Paul Reiffel pulled out their light meters, with 14 minutes left to 6pm, and said what England didn't want to hear. That left England stuck on 74 for 4, 25 runs short and with eight overs remaining.
Earlier, the Pakistan bowlers strode out into the harsh Saturday morning sun to complete sending down over 200 overs, the ninth time they had done so. They bowled 206 overs and incidentally, it was against the same opponents, that they had bowled the most - 233.5 in 1962.
England had resumed on 569 and with a lead of 46 runs they nudged it up to 75 before Cook felt he had had enough and gave, maybe, just about enough time for his bowlers to have a go. James Anderson hung around for 12 balls after Adil Rashid was castled by Imran Khan and Cook then declared, two runs short of 600.
And that 75 was proving to be more than a handy lead as opener Shan Masood scratched around like a cat before his nightmarish Test came to an end. The left-hander, who had ducked into an Anderson bouncer, which then hit the stumps, this time, edged it at the bottom of his bat before rolling to disturb the furniture.
Comeback man Shoaib Malik, couldn't replicate his first innings heroics and fell for nought with Anderson going on to equal Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh on 417 wickets, and moving to ninth on the list.
Opener Mohammed Hafeez was blessed with a baby girl during the Test and was celebrating his birthday on Saturday. But it didn't quite turn out to be a good one for him, being run out by Ben Stokes, after he had stroked his way to a relatively quick 34. Hafeez and Younis Khan had added 44 for the third wicket.
Younis and captain Misbah-ul-Haq took Pakistan past that lead and were starting afresh, effectively three down for none. The veteran mainstays strung together 66 for the fourth wicket before Younis became Adil Rashid's maiden victim in Test match cricket.
Having put a nightmarish first innings behind him with that wicket, Rashid grew in confidence and then accounted for first innings centurion Asad Shafiq. And once Misbah was castled by Moeen Ali after a rearguard 30th half-century, it was all looking a bit too scary for Pakistan. Wahab Riaz, Zulfiqar Babar, Sarfraz Ahmed then followed suit, with the latter two adding into Rashid's figures before the leg spinner wrapped it up with Imran Khan.
With 99 runs to get in 19 overs, England made a fist of it with more or less a reverse batting order. Openers Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler went cracking and so did Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, taking them to 74. But fading light put an end to their hopes, with the umpires Bruce Oxenford and Paul Reiffel calling off play.
james@khaleejtimes.com