Pakistan Team (Photo Source: PCB)
Hosts Pakistan secured an emphatic win over Ben Stokes’ England in the second Test of the three-game Test series, in Multan. After being 1-0 down in the series, the Pakistan Cricket Board made some notable changes in the squad for the last two Tests by dropping Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah.
Shan Masood called it correctly at the toss and elected to bat first on the same track as the first Test. The hosts had a great first innings as they batted till lunchtime of Day 2. Consequently, the hosts put up a big total of 366 runs on the board, courtesy of a century from debutant Kamran Ghulam and valuable knocks from Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan. For England, Jack Leach and Brydon Carse shared seven wickets between them.
In reply, the only significant performance by the bat for the tourists was from opener Ben Duckett as the southpaw smashed his fourth Test century. For Pakistan’s comeback bowler, Sajid Khan it was a great day with the ball as he scalped seven crucial wickets. Capitalizing on their lead, Masood and his men put up 221 runs on board and gave the Englishmen a target of 296 runs with two more days of play left.
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The visitors couldn’t do much as left-arm spinner Noman Ali took a brilliant eight-wicket haul, leading to England’s 152-run loss. With this win, Pakistan not only kept their series hopes alive but also ended their Test win drought since 2021 at home.
Pakistan spoils England’s WTC final hopes
In the WTC points table (World Test Championship 2023-25), the Men in Green have not made any significant progress still as they jumped just one spot above holding on to the eighth spot with 28 points and a PCT of 25.93%, respectively. Pakistan has featured in nine Test matches in the cycle and registered three wins.
Meanwhile, England are still stationed at the ninth position with 93 points and a PCT of 43.06%. With this loss, the Three Lions have made their WTC final journey more challenging. Both sides will next be seen in action for the third Test at Rawalpindi, starting on October 24.
Here’s the latest WTC 2023-25 Standings
| Pos. | Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | Points | PCT (%) |
| 1 | India | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 98 | 74.24 |
| 2 | Australia | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 90 | 62.50 |
| 3 | Sri Lanka | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 60 | 55.56 |
| 4 | England | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 93 | 43.06 |
| 5 | South Africa | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 38.89 |
| 6 | New Zealand | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 36 | 37.50 |
| 7 | Bangladesh | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 33 | 34.38 |
| 8 | Pakistan | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 28 | 25.93 |
| 9 | West Indies | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 18.52 |
*Updated data as of October 18, 2024.
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