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Teenage England leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed demolished Pakistan’s defences in the final Test in Karachi on Monday, leaving the hosts staring at their worst-ever series defeat on home soil.
Ahmed bagged three wickets in four overs late into the second session on day three — starting with the key wicket of captain Babar Azam who hit a miscued pull shot straight into the hands of Ollie Pope at short midwicket.
His spell demolished Pakistan’s resistance after fellow spinner Jack Leach had taken out the top order in the space of six balls before lunch.
At tea, Pakistan were struggling at 177-6 with Agha Salman unbeaten on one and Faheem Ashraf yet to score.
Pakistan lead by 127 and will hope to at least double that lead to avoid a first-ever 3-0 whitewash at home.
England won the first Test by 74 runs in Rawalpindi and the second in Multan by 26 runs.
Ahmed, who became the youngest England Test player at 18 years and 126 days on Saturday, had surprisingly not bowled in the first session, which saw Pakistan reach 99-3.
He came on after Babar and Saud Shakeel had put on a valiant rebuilding effort.
The pair took Pakistan to 164 before the skipper made an uncharacteristic misjudgement, soon after he reached Test 1,000 runs for the year.
Leach had Pakistan reeling after he knocked over openers Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique and veteran Azhar Ali, appearing in his last match, with only one run added.
Ahmed oversaw an equally brutal passage of play, removing Babar (54), Mohammad Rizwan (7) and Saud Shakeel (53) in the space of six overs for the addition of a paltry 13 runs.
Pakistan started the fourth day on nearly even footing, with openers Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood looking set and erasing England’s 50-run lead without the loss of a wicket.
But any optimism was snatched away by England’s methodical spinners. Leach bowled Shan — attempting an ill-advised reverse sweep — for 24 which brought down the first cluster of wickets.
The visitors had themselves overcome a slow first innings start to post 354 in reply to Pakistan’s first innings 304.
England recovered from 145-5 to end with a slight advantage, thanks to a third hundred in as many games from Harry Brook.
Azhar’s last stand
Earlier in the day, top-order stalwart Azhar Ali was denied a fairytale ending to his storied career that has spanned 97 Tests and 7,142 runs.
Azhar was beaten by spin as he played a forward push on the final ball of Leach’s momentum-changing double-wicket maiden. His stumps shattered, Azhar walked off the field for the last time, ending 12 years as a first-team regular.
The England players clapped as Azhar trudged back to the dressing room, while Pakistan’s players raised their bats at the boundary for a ceremonial guard of honour.
Among the handful of spectators were Azhar’s wife and two sons.