Pakistan's Audacious Fightback at Edgbaston

Pakistan finally bared their teeth on this tour, turning Edgbaston into a stage for their most complete and compelling performance of the series on the third day. By stumps, they had not only wiped out England’s lead but surged to 449 all out – their highest total of the series – and set a tricky fourth-innings target of 130.

It was a day that began with quiet resistance and ended in outright carnage.

Steady hands: Awais and Masood blunt England

Azan Awais and Shan Masood, the overnight pair, walked out under grey skies and a hard new ball, with Pakistan still under England’s thumb. Jofra Archer went short early, thudding the ball into the pitch, but the left-handed duo refused to flinch.

Archer and Gus Atkinson kept it tight. Josh Tongue did not. Whenever he overpitched or strayed in line, Pakistan’s batters pounced. There was some movement on offer, just enough to keep the slips interested, not enough to truly disturb the rhythm of two batters who had clearly decided they were in for the long haul.

On either side of the drinks break, both Awais and Masood reached deserved half-centuries, nudging Pakistan closer to safety and dragging the game away from England’s comfort zone.

Then, out of nowhere, came the twist.

Lawrence breaks through, Root nails the call

Spin entered the game for the first time in the Test, and with it, a breakthrough that owed as much to sharp captaincy as it did to Dan Lawrence’s part-time off-spin.

Awais, looking to glance a ball drifting down the leg side, feathered it through to the wicketkeeper. The umpire said no. Most close catchers barely appealed. Joe Root did not hesitate. One swift review later, UltraEdge confirmed the faintest of touches and Awais was gone, his diligent innings cut short just as Pakistan’s foundations looked truly solid.

The dismissal could have opened the floodgates. Masood made sure it did not.

Masood and Babar restore authority

Masood found the perfect ally in Babar Azam, a captain under pressure after failing to reach double figures all series. This time, he looked like himself again.

The pair stitched together an 89-run stand built on calm judgment and crisp strokeplay. Masood continued to accumulate, Babar unfurled his trademark drives, and for the first time in the series England’s attack looked short of ideas rather than Pakistan’s batters short of belief.

Then Lawrence struck again, this time in the field. Masood, five runs short of a superb century, drove firmly into the off side, only for Lawrence at gully to dive low and cling on with one hand. It was a stunning catch, and a brutal end to an innings that had held Pakistan’s effort together.

Babar, though, remained. He looked increasingly assured, picking gaps, riding the bounce, seemingly set to answer every question that had been asked of him over the past few weeks.

Short-ball trap snares Babar and Shakeel

The hosts turned to the short-ball plan with renewed intensity. Archer tested Babar with a barrage that the Pakistan captain initially survived, swaying, ducking, and occasionally hooking with authority.

Tongue then joined the act. He pushed the ball into Babar’s body, angling it down leg. This time, the trap worked. Babar, well set and eyeing three figures, gloved one behind and walked off with 50-plus to his name but a hundred still missing from his series tally.

Seven overs later, the same tactic accounted for Saud Shakeel. Fending at a rising ball, he could only glove it to short leg. Pakistan’s serene progress suddenly looked fragile again.

At the start of the final session, Pakistan trailed by just 23, but the game teetered. They had five wickets in hand. England needed a burst. They got one.

Shakeel, Ghazi Ghori and Mohammad Imran Randhawa all fell before Pakistan could even clear the deficit. From a position of growing strength, they slumped into danger, two wickets left and still work to do.

What followed flipped the day on its head.

Razaullah explodes: a debut for the ages

With the match finely poised, Razaullah strode out and chose violence.

The 21-year-old launched into England’s bowlers with a fearlessness that belonged more to a T20 night than a grinding Test afternoon. He hammered nine sixes – the most ever by a debutant – in a blistering 63-ball 81 that shredded England’s plans and the field placements with them.

The onslaught began early. Gus Atkinson bore the brunt, carted over the ropes three times in a single over as Razaullah cleared his front leg and swung with brutal clarity. England scattered fielders to the boundary; it barely mattered.

There was a brief lull as he recalibrated, then he went again. Jofra Archer, so often the intimidator, watched one of his deliveries sail over long off for the six that brought up Razaullah’s half-century. It was the shot of a player utterly unburdened by the occasion.

At the other end, Mohammad Abbaas played the perfect foil. He resisted, nudged, and rotated the strike just enough to keep Razaullah on the attack. As their partnership grew, so did the audacity of the strokeplay. Pakistan’s deficit disappeared, then turned into a lead, then swelled into something far more imposing than anyone had imagined when that ninth wicket partnership began.

The pair added 121 for the ninth wicket, a stand that transformed a precarious position into a 119-run lead. Abbaas finally fell for 42, edging Tongue after an invaluable hand that allowed Razaullah the freedom to keep swinging.

Razaullah added 10 more runs before his unforgettable debut innings came to an end, stumped charging Lawrence, who claimed his second wicket of the innings and the final one of Pakistan’s epic effort.

By then, the damage was done. The crowd knew it. England certainly did.

Pakistan walked off with 449 on the board, a lead of 129 and the momentum they had craved all tour. England now face a fourth-innings chase of 130 under pressure, against a side that has finally remembered how to fight – and how to entertain.