Pakistan’s debutant spinner Abrar Ahmed took seven wickets on a fascinating opening day of the second Test in Multan
At the end of a breakneck opening day in Multan there was still only one story in town, Abrar Ahmed, a 24-year-old mystery spinner with the air of a junior accountant, announcing his arrival at Test level with a remarkable set of numbers on debut.
Though Abrar rose through the domestic system, it was on the streets of Karachi where he first honed his craft, a mixture of leg-breaks and googlies that are flicked out from the front of the hand and through a strong middle finger. And with just his fifth ball in Test cricket the young spinner offered the first sign that England, so irresistible in Rawalpindi, may find things trickier 300 miles further south.
This delivery, plus the newly arrived Ollie Pope then reverse-sweeping his first ball for four en route to an enterprising 60, set the tone for two breathless sessions of Test cricket in which England batted to type and yet saw regular holes punched in the hull of the good ship “Bazball”. A dry, slow turner of a pitch – and a home attack selected accordingly – meant a genuine contest between bat and ball once Stokes won the toss.
Umpiring was clearly something of a trial out in the middle, England’s array of switch hits and reverse sweeps in an innings of 32 fours and four sixes not helping messrs Marais Erasmus and Aleem Dar with their calibration. It took another smart review by Babar to dismiss Joe Root for eight, Abrar’s leg-break having pitched just in line before striking the right-hander on the back leg.
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