England are on the verge of building a healthy lead against Pakistan as they have tightened their grip on the second Test after a rain-marred day-2.

Resuming the day on 106 for two, England had only one decent partnership of 62 runs between Dominic Bess and Dawid Malan, following Joe Root’s departure on 45.

Mohammad Amir removed Root and Malan with Shadab Khan dismissing Bess in-between. Bess was just a run short of his half century and Malan made 28 runs before returning to the pavilion.

Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Abbas then struck once each to send Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes back to the hut. Ashraf took his second wicket in the innings by removing Bairstow for 21 runs and Woakes was dismissed by Abbas after scoring 17 runs.

Pakistan bowlers teamed up greatly to challenge the opponents’ batters and were able to scalp four wickets in the last session of the day. But the hapless team’s poor total in the first innings made the score of 302/7 registered by England look somewhat daunting.

England’s comeback mission is, for now, dependent on the three remaining wickets. Jos Buttler and Sam Curran will resume the third day’s play on their scores of 34 and 16, respectively. Although England have the edge over the opponents so far, the pressure is still on them as nothing short of a win will save them from series defeat against Pakistan.

On the other hand, Pakistan will have to make sure that they don’t let the chances – of winning a Test series against England in their very own backyard for the first time since 1996 – fade because of their miserable batting display in the first innings.

 

Scores:

PAK - 174