Razaullah’s Epic Six-Hitting Performance Shakes England's Confidence

EDGBASTON – England arrived on Saturday expecting to rubber-stamp a ruthless whitewash. Pakistan had other ideas. One man, in particular, tore up the script.

On debut, at No.9, with his side still wobbling in a series where they had barely landed a punch, 21-year-old Razaullah Khan walked out and turned Edgbaston into his own private launching pad. By the time he trudged off, stumped for 81 from 63 balls, Pakistan had surged to 449 all out, a lead of 129, and a fourth day that nobody – absolutely nobody – had pencilled in.

England now need 130 on Sunday to complete a first three-Test clean sweep since 2024 on this ground, when the West Indies were brushed aside. It should be straightforward. It no longer feels that way.

A Series Turned on Its Head

For two Tests and most of this one, Pakistan had been timid, brittle, and badly out of their depth. Blown away at Leeds and Lord’s, they hadn’t once reached 200 or lasted 50 overs. The Pakistan Cricket Board panicked: seven players sent home, the head coach dismissed, three debutants thrown into the furnace.

The first innings of this Test only deepened the gloom – 133 all out. England’s reply of 453, built across Thursday, opened a vast 320-run chasm. At 0-2 on Thursday evening, Pakistan looked destined for another innings defeat and a swift end to a miserable tour.

Then, slowly at first and then with startling conviction, they began to climb.

On a pitch that softened for batting and offered little lateral movement under heavy skies, England’s bowlers finally lost their stranglehold. Lines wavered, lengths drifted, and Joe Root’s captaincy came under scrutiny as fields scattered and plans frayed. For the first time in the series, England toiled.

Pakistan ticked off milestones that had seemed unreachable only days earlier. Past 200 after lunch. Past 300 after tea. Past 320 about 40 minutes later. By stumps, they had hammered 397 runs in 84 overs on the day, including their first two century stands of the entire tour.

Masood, Babar and Awais Lay the Platform

The recovery began in orthodox fashion. No fireworks. Just grit, timing and a refusal to fold.

Shan Masood and Azan Awais, both left-handers, stitched together a 125-run stand that dragged Pakistan from peril into genuine contention. At lunch, they were 184-3 and, for the first time in weeks, the dressing room could breathe.

Awais’s 59 from 84 balls, laced with 10 fours, ended via technology – a faint edge behind confirmed on review. Masood, light on his feet and busy at the crease, survived a chance at point before reaching his fifty in 81 balls. He looked destined for a cathartic hundred until Dan Lawrence flung himself low at slip, clutching a superb ankle-high catch to give Gus Atkinson his first wicket of the match. Masood fell for 95, five short of a landmark that would have defined his tour.

Babar Azam, under pressure and without a Test century in 20 matches, seemed determined to change that narrative. He drove with authority, picked gaps with familiar elegance and moved serenely into the 70s. England went short. The trap worked – initially. He was caught on 69, only for replays to show substitute fielder Theo Wylie brushing the boundary rope.

Reprieved, Babar pressed on, but the short-ball ploy eventually claimed him anyway. Just before tea, Josh Tongue banged one in, Jordan Cox launched himself for an acrobatic catch, and Babar was gone for 76. Another innings that promised a hundred, another that fell short.

Saud Shakeel, who passed 2,000 Test runs during a nervy stay, tried to needle England with soft hands and calculated nudges just beyond the infield. On 29, though, he too succumbed to the barrage, fending at a Jofra Archer bouncer and departing as Pakistan’s last recognised batter at 306-6.

At that stage, England’s belief returned. Atkinson, who had managed just one wicket in the entire series before this Test, suddenly found rhythm. He removed debutant Ghazi Ghori at 312 and Mohammad Imran at 318. Pakistan still trailed by two. The innings, and perhaps the contest, looked almost done.

Then Razaullah walked in.

Razaullah’s Audacious Arrival

He is barely known outside Pakistan’s domestic circuit, only recently armed with his first passport and parachuted into a shaken squad. By stumps, he had lit up an entire series.

“I just had to bat. You were the ones who enjoyed it,” he told Sky Sports in translated comments, a line that summed up the carefree brutality of what followed.

From his first few strokes, it was clear he wasn’t interested in survival. He was interested in damage.

His first six did more than clear the rope; it wiped out the deficit and gave Pakistan the lead. Archer, Atkinson, anyone in his way – he treated them the same. Three times in one over, Gus Atkinson watched the ball sail into the stands. Razaullah reached a 43-ball fifty with his fifth six, launched off Archer, then thumped another off the same bowler to carry Pakistan to 400.

The numbers barely do the spectacle justice. Nine sixes in total, equalling the record for most in a Test innings in England, alongside Ben Stokes’ Ashes assault at Lord’s in 2023. Each hit came with a clear plan, not blind slogging. “I was planning to take it long and deep. They bowled in the slot so I was eyeing it up,” he said. There was no trace of fear. “There was no point I was scared.”

At the other end, Mohammad Abbas played the perfect foil. A bowler by trade, he produced the innings of his life: 42, his highest Test score, decorated with two sixes and five fours. Their ninth-wicket stand of 121 from 123 balls was not just entertaining; it was historic – the highest ninth-wicket partnership against England since 1984.

Abbas departed to a standing ovation, the crowd fully aware they had just seen something rare. Moments before the scheduled close, Razaullah followed, stumped for 81, and received the same reception. From nowhere, Pakistan had turned a humiliation into a statement.

“The first time he’s been out for Pakistan ever, and absolutely lights up the show,” former captain Ramiz Raja told the BBC. Michael Vaughan, from the other commentary box, was equally emphatic: “They’ve unearthed a gem.”

England’s Task – Simple Target, Complicated Mindset

Strip away the drama and the equation is straightforward. England need 130 runs on Sunday. On this surface, with this batting line-up, it should be routine.

But that’s not quite how it feels now.

A Pakistan side written off, reshuffled and ridiculed has finally bared its teeth. The bowling will come hard, the fielders will swarm, and every play-and-miss will be roared like a wicket. The psychological balance has shifted, if only slightly.

England still hold the series. They still hold the advantage. Yet after Razaullah’s audacious arrival and Pakistan’s defiant 449, the final act at Edgbaston carries a question no one expected to ask at the start of the day: can England still close this out on their own terms, or has this chaotic fightback left a scar that lingers beyond the series?