Pakistan's batting collapse put England on brink of victory

MULTAN: England require just four wickets for an innings victory over Pakistan in the first Test at the Multan Cricket Stadium as the hosts suffered a dramatic batting collapse following visitors’ mammoth 823-7.

The visiting side achieved a lead of 267 runs courtesy of Harry Brook’s triple century and Joe Root’s double century.

The Green Shirts had a disastrous start when Abdullah Shafique, who scored a century in the first innings, fell prey to Chris Woakes on the very first ball of the second innings.

England bowlers continued to wreak havoc as the Pakistani batters struggling to capitalise on a batting-friendly pitch, with the scoreboard reading 87 for 6.

The visitors declared their first innings at a mammoth 823-7 before tea on the fourth day with a lead of 267 runs.

Harry Brook notched up a superb 317 and Joe Root hit 262 as both batsmen made their highest Test scores on the flat wicket at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

The visitors' mammoth 823-run total marks the second time in history that a team has scored more than 700 runs in a Test match against Pakistan.

Previously, the West Indies scored 790-3 against the Men in Green in 1958. 

Earlier in the day, both Root and Brook propelled their side way past Pakistan's 556-run total in the first innings with the former becoming the first English batter to make 20,000 international runs.

The former captain was handed a reprieve on 186 when Babar Azam dropped the simplest of catches at mid-wicket, and he made the most of it to reach his sixth double-century with a single before celebrating by kissing the badge on his helmet.

By scoring his sixth double ton, Root went past Cook again with only Wally Hammond ahead of him in England's list with seven double centuries.

On Wednesday, he had surpassed Alastair Cook as England's top Test run-scorer.

Following the innings declaration, the Shan Masood-led side had a rather unsettling start to the second innings with opener Abdullah Shafique (0) losing his wicket to Chris Woakes on the very first ball.

With captain Masood (10*) and opener Saim Ayub (13*) on the crease, the national side trails by 244 runs with the scoreboard at 23-1.

Playing XI

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir