Pakistan stun England to claim first home Test series win in over three years

• Spinners Noman Ali, Sajid Khan dismiss all 10 English batters.
• England bowled out at meagre 112 runs in second innings.
• Skipper Masood leads Pakistan to chase down 36-run target.

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's spinners outclassed England’s batting lineup on Saturday, sealing a 2-1 victory in the three-match Test series and marking a long-awaited home triumph.

The Green Shirts had been on the ascendancy since claiming a handy first-innings lead of 77 on a track where spinners from both sides dominated.

Noman Ali (6-42) and Sajid Khan (4-69) bundled out England for a paltry 112 in their second innings to leave Pakistan needing only 36 to win the series.

Pakistan lost the wicket of Saim Ayub before wrapping up victory on day three of the contest.

Resuming their second innings at 24-3, England collapsed against Pakistan's lethal spin attack led by Noman and Sajid, who took all 10 wickets between them

Joe Root was the top scorer with 33 in an otherwise dismal English performance on a spinning track.

Pakistan swiftly chased down the target in just 3.1 overs, with skipper Shan Masood (23*) sealing the win to clinch the three-match series.

During the match, Noman and Sajid claimed 19 of the 20 England wickets while Pakistan did not use their lone seamer Aamir Jamal at all in the match in a stark indication of how spin-friendly the surface was.

"Like London buses, they come together," said Masood while referring to their back-to-back wins in the series.

"The first win came after a long time and it was backed up by a series win. It's special," he remarked.

"To be here and standing as the winning team, it's the most special thing for us [...] So many characters in this series and everyone has chipped in," added the captain.

Sajid, who finished with a 10-wicket match haul, was adjudged player of the series.

He and Noman claimed 39 of the 40 English wickets in the last two Tests since their selection after the series opener.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Saud Shakeel was adjudged player of the match for hitting the lone hundred in the spin-dominated contest.

Expressing his views on the series, England captain Stokes said: We got put in some challenges in the last few games and weren't able to match those challenges." 

"The next time we face challenges throughout the world we will have to try to match those as well.

"The lads trained hard but when you get out in the middle, it can be completely different," he noted.

Significance of today's win

• Pakistan clinch first home Test series win in almost three and a half years.
• National side's last home Test series victory was in January 2021 against South Africa.
• This marks Pakistan’s fourth home Test series victory over England.
• Last time Green Shirts defeated England in home Test series was back in 2005.
• Men in Green's Test series win over England comes after an 8-year gap.
• In UAE, Pakistan last won a three-match Test series against England 2-0 in 2015-16.
• The hosts defeated the visitors for the first time at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
• England had previously defeated Pakistan at Rawalpindi in 2022.
• Recently, national side faced home series defeats against Australia (2022), England (2022), and Bangladesh (2024).

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (c), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk, Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mehmood

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Gus Atkinson, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir