After tearaway bowler Mark Wood led the tourists to a tight 26-run victory in the second Test here on Monday, England won a historic Test series against Pakistan.
When play resumed from 198/4 on day four, Pakistan seemed on track to chase down a difficult 355 after Saud Shakeel (94) and Mohammad Nawaz (45) helped the hosts reach 290/5 with an 80-run partnership for the sixth wicket. However, just before lunch, Wood turned the tide back in England's favour by removing both of the set batters with leg-side strangles.
Agha Salman (20 not out) and Abrar Ahmed, who was making his debut, provided some resistance for Pakistan's batting line until it began to fall apart (17). After a thrilling final session in the first Test at Rawalpindi on their return to the country after 17 years, England won the Test series in Pakistan by the time Pakistan was all out for 328 in 102.1 overs.
After losing 1-0 to Australia in a three-match series in March of this year, Pakistan suffered their second consecutive series setback at home with the close loss in Multan. With good performances from Ollie Robinson (2/23) and James Anderson (2/44), Wood concluded with figures of 4/65 in 21 overs as England triumphed once more.
Before all-rounder Faheem Ashraf (10) smashed a twisting delivery from Joe Root straight to slip on day four, Pakistan had only scored 12 runs to their overnight total. While Nawaz was fast to hit boundaries and gave Pakistan hope of chasing a high total, Shakeel maintained calmness throughout his time at the wicket.
Nawaz was compelled by Wood, who stepped in, to glove a short ball behind to goalkeeper Ollie Pope. On the cusp of lunch, Wood would also take down Shakeel, but there was a heated argument over whether Pope's catch was clean or not, which proved to be a pivotal decision.
After a soft signal was given out, third umpire Joel Wilson had a lot of look at replays and concluded that Pope did manage to get his gloves under the ball to take the catch, ending a gritty innings of Shakeel lasting 213 deliveries.
From there, the result was a foregone conclusion as England now aim for a rare series sweep in Pakistan when the third and final Test at Karachi takes place from December 17-21.
Brief Scores: England 281 and 275 beat Pakistan 202 and 328 all out in 102.1 overs (Saud Shakeel 94, Imam-ul-Haq 60, Mark Wood 4/65) by 26 runs