PTV Sports Live
BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom: England fought well and brought themselves back in the third Test against Pakistan on Friday as the Host took 17 runs leads with still 10 wickets remaining at stumps on the third day.
Pakistan secured a 103-run lead against England after both sides had completed their respective first innings of the third Investec Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham. But in the second innings, England’s batsmen built up the opening partnership of 120 runs while playing maturely and converted Pakistan’s 103 runs lead into their own 17-run lead over the visiting side.
England were 120 runs for 0 in 35 overs at the end of third day’s play on Friday evening. Both the openers Alastair Cook and Alex Hales remained not out on 64 and 50 runs respectively.
Earlier in their first innings, Pakistan were all out for 400 runs, securing 103 runs lead against England. The middle-order batsman Azhar Ali remained the highest scorer for Pakistan in the first innings with 139 runs followed by opener Sami Aslam’s 82.
The Captain Misbah-ul-Haq scored 56 runs, Sarfaraz Ahmed 46 and Younis Khan made 31 runs. Rest of the batsmen could not even convert their individual scores into a double figure.
For England, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes claimed 3 wickets each whereas James Anderson took 2 wickets.
Still, two full days left in the third Test and Cricket experts don’t rule out the possibility of match ending in a draw. However, if England manages to set the 200-plus target for Pakistan with at least one full day left, Pakistan will be under immense pressure while chasing in the fourth innings.
