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Pakistan complete incredible series turnaround after beating England by 9 wickets in Rawalpindi Test

Pakistan cricket team completes amazing turn around as they beat England by 9 wickets to win the Rawalpindi Test to take the series 2-1 on Saturday

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Rawalpindi Test (Source-ICC)

Shan Masood and his team did the impossible as they beat England by 9 wickets to win the Rawalpindi Test. When the series started it looked like the home side were facing another whitewash at home. England had won the first game by an innings margin, despite Pakistan scoring a mammoth 556 on the board. 

This was followed by the win in Multan for the home team despite dropping Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah. The ploy to introduce Sajid Khan and Noman Ali paid rich dividends as the two spinners didn’t let England settle. 

On Saturday, England were bowled out for 112 in their second innings leaving Pakistan just 36 runs to get. That was achieved in the 4th over as Shan Masood smashed 23 off 6 balls with 3 fours and a six. Saim Ayub was the only batter to be dismissed when he was dismissed by Jack Leach for eight runs. 

Sajid Khan named man of the series for stellar bowling efforts

Veteran spinner Sajid Khan picked 12/170 with six wickets in each innings of the game. He was aptly named the man of the series for his 21 wickets in the series as he got good support from Noman Ali. 

Speaking after the game, Sajid Khan said, “Was making a comeback, but there were people who backed me and I had played FC cricket. Off the field, I'm not like this, I'm funny, Kamran Ghulam is my best friend, but you need to behave like this to lift the team's morale. You didn't need to do anything in Multan, the pitch did everything. Here, you needed to vary your lengths and paces, we just did that.”

Skipper Shan Masood said, “London buses, they come together. First Test win came after a long time, now the series win. This means a lot for me, the players, the coaches and the management - they came through a lot. The character says a lot, this is a special moment and you can't take this off the team. 

The Pakistan captain added, “Saud Shakeel, I can say that's one of the best hundred I've seen, 70 singles, what an effort, Sajid and Noman, what can I say about them. Zahid fielded well, Jamal, he might have created a world record of a pacer to have not bowled a single ball in the Test, the biggest point of satisfaction was that we had a change in conditions, we ourselves hadn't played on such challenging pitches before.”

Ben Stokes Joe Root Saud Shakeel Shan Masood Sajid Khan
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