Root (23 not out) also continued his sublime form after scoring a double century in England’s first innings total of 589-8 declared and took England to a position of strength by stumps.
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He had to have surgery on his left knee after injuring himself during the first Test against Sri Lanka in May.
Sarfraz Ahmed showed some attacking intent and hit five boundaries in his 26 before nicking Ben Stokes to Root at an overcast Old Trafford. “This was all about us showing that we can still play and to put most of the things right that were wrong at Lord’s”. No team has ever successfully chased down more than 418 runs to win in the history of test match cricket.
After removing his bunny Shan Masood for the sixth time in three Test matches for just one, the Lancashire seamer then trapped Azhar Ali LBW just before the lunch break, to leave the visitors in a perilous position at 47/2.
England’s all-time leading wicket-taker is therefore safely back in harness as Alastair Cook’s hosts seek to consolidate their fightback from defeat in the series opener at Lord’s.
“Full marks to England – they got it all together, the quality of the batting, the discipline, their good bowling”.
Cook came under severe criticism on Sunday for not enforcing the follow-on on Pakistan team despite 391-run lead. I tried to cut that out of my game.
“England are in a good place and will win again”.
Pakistan were outplayed in all departments in the second Test and got what they deserved, according to skipper Misbah-ul-Haq. If he’s not there at Edgbaston, he’ll be a big miss. Obviously us in this game, we have played very well with bat and ball and we are very confident now going into Edgbaston and (can) hopefully take that forward into the rest of the series.
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ENGLAND moved relentlessly towards a series-levelling victory over Pakistan on a rain-disrupted third day of the second Test in Manchester yesterday. “These guys are strong characters though, mentally strong, and I’m hopeful that everybody is hurt and they will really work hard”.
