The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium pitch, once feared for its batting-friendly nature, turned into a graveyard for Pakistan’s top order on Thursday. Pakistan finished the opening day of the third and final Test against England at 100-7, effectively handing the visitors the early advantage in a series currently locked at 1-1.
The collapse began almost immediately after Shan Masood opted to bat first. By the time the shadows lengthened over the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Pakistan had lost seven wickets in under 40 overs. England’s decision to stack their side with spin paid immediate dividends; Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir exploited a surface that offered sharp, unpredictable turn from the very first session.
Saim Ayub fell early, and the middle order followed in quick succession. Babar Azam’s exclusion from the squad—a move that dominated headlines for the past 48 hours—left a void in experience that Pakistan’s younger players struggled to fill. The side looked tentative, failing to rotate the strike against Leach’s relentless accuracy.
Captain Shan Masood’s dismissal was the most telling. He looked settled, playing with a clear plan, until a delivery from Jack Leach straightened just enough to catch the edge. When Mohammad Rizwan departed shortly after, the scoreboard read a dismal 73-5.
England’s captain, Ben Stokes, operated his spinners with clinical precision. He kept his fielders in tight, stifling any attempt at aggressive stroke play. The hosts, meanwhile, appeared caught between two minds: whether to play defensively to survive the day or take the risk to force the spinners off their length. They chose neither, losing wickets at regular intervals instead.
The pitch, which was specifically prepared with industrial fans and heaters to dry out the surface, behaved exactly as the England camp anticipated. While Pakistan’s own selection committee had banked on the spin-heavy track to neutralise England’s batting, they failed to account for their own inability to handle the very conditions they curated.
With Noman Ali and Sajid Khan at the crease, Pakistan’s only hope for a respectable first-innings total rests on the tail. A score of 100-7 leaves them staring at a total well below par, putting immense pressure on their own spinners to replicate England’s performance when the roles reverse on Friday.
For Pakistan, the objective is no longer about setting a target. It’s about survival. If the remaining three wickets fall early tomorrow, England will have two days of batting practice on a surface that shows no signs of slowing down.
