Noman Ali, Sajid Khan star as Pakistan beat England by 152 runs in second Test

Hyderabad: Pakistan spinner Noman Ali was the star as Pakistan beat England by 152 runs in the second Test match at Multan on Friday. After Pakistan’s win, the three-Test match series stands at 1-1.

Chasing 297 to win the Test and go 2-0 up, England came a cropper against Noman Ali, who returned with figures of 8/46, as England were bundled out for 144 in the morning session on the fourth day of the Test match.

England beat Pakistan by an innings and 47 in the first Test at Multan.

The second Test was also played on the same pitch and Pakistan spinners Sajid Khan (7/111) in the first innings and Ali (8/46) in the second innings spun a web around the England batters.

England captain Ben Stokes was the top scorer for England with 37 in their second innings but all their frontline batters struggled against the turning ball.

Resuming the fourth day’s play at 36/2, England needed their batters to rise to the occasion but once vice-captain Ollie Pope (22) fell in the second over of the day, giving off-spinner Sajid Khan a return catch, the writing on the wall was clear for England.

It was only a matter of time before Noman ran amok. He got Joe Root lbw for 18, a decision the batter reviewed but could not get overturned, and soon he had first Test triple-centurion

Harry Brook (16) in his kitty too.

Soon Jamie Smith was out for 6 as England were struggling at 88/6.

It needed a special effort from Stokes, who is no stranger to playing match-winning knocks, but Friday was a total different scenario.

Stokes, who almost scored at run-a-ball, was out stumped when he came dancing down the track against Noman only for his bat to fly out of his hands to midwicket while Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan collected the ball and whipped the bails off with Stokes well out of the crease.

Once Stokes departed, it was just a matter of time before Noman wrapped the innings and secured the win for Pakistan.

The pitch took so much turn that only Noman Ali and Sajid Khan bowled all the 33.3 overs and shared all 10 wickets between them when England batted in the second innings.

The third and final Test match begins in Rawalpindi on October 24.

Brief scores: Pakistan 366 (Kamran Ghulam 118, Saim Ayub 77, Jack Leach 4/114, Brydon Carse 3/50) & 221 (Salman Agha 63, Shoaib Bashir 4/66, Jack Leach 3/67) beat England 291 (Ben Duckett 114, Joe Root 34, Sajid Khan 7/111, Noman Ali 3/101) & 144 (Ben Stokes 37, Noman Ali 8/46, Sajid Khan 2/93)