Pakistan have found a mystery spinner in the form of Abrar Ahmed, who took a wicket in just his first over on debut in international cricket. He made his debut in the 2nd Test vs England at Multan and struck straightaway to dismiss opener Zak Crawley for 19 off 37 balls. Abrar had been brought to exactly the same. Pakistan are banking on their mystery spin after pacers Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah were also ruled out of the 2nd Test due to respective injuries. Abrar did not disappoint and struck in only his first over, removing Crawley, he came back to get rid of Ben Duckett too, who made 63 off 49 balls.
Watch Zak Crawley being dismissed by Pakistan’s debutant Abrar Ahmed below:
_ Introduction to Test cricket _#PAKvENG , #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/wIWgXN7Zmg— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 9, 2022
Earlier, Ben Stokes won the toss again in the 2nd Test and England opted to bat first. The England openers Crawley and Duckett took them off to a quick start again, putting up 38 on the board and it seemed they would continue to build on the stand for the opening wicket but Abrar had other ideas. He kept challenging Crawley with the spin, taking away the deliveries with the same action but the odd one came in and Crawley’s weakness against spin came to the fore again and he was cleaned up to hand the debutant his maiden wicket.
He later picked up the wicket of Duckett too to provide Pakistan their second breakthrough in the Test.
Pakistan will need to ensure they continue picking wickets to push the visitors on the back foot. In the first Test, the hosts had no idea how to curtail the English batters, who posted a massive total on the board in the first innings in quick time which eventually helped them to win the match. Babar Azam’s side will have to play out of their skin to win this contest and make it 1-1 going into the third Test.