England 45-2 in chase of 491 in second Test

Pakistan began with the contrasting threat of Wahab’s scorching pace and Yasir’s canny leg-spin.

They suffered an early setback, though, when Misbah (87) thumped James Anderson’s slower delivery to Cook at mid-off for a comfortable catch.

The Pakistan skipper who had scored 102 in the 1st innings had to trudge back to the pavilion with only 13 runs from another ton.

He survived again somehow when third umpire Chris Gaffaney ruled Younus had not got his fingers under a low slip catch – but at the other end, quickly lost two more partners caught-behind again off Wahab.

Root gave the opposition due credit, but did not shirk the issue that England made plenty of their own problems after resuming on 182 for three.

Pakistan scored a mere 89 runs in 27 overs in the first session (at 3.3 runs an over).

Anderson with 2 for 22 and Mark Wood with 2 for 44 were the most successful English bowlers.

That collapse meant England needed to bowl out Pakistan cheaply to stand any chance of a remarkable comeback and Alastair Cook’s men got off to the best possible start.

Moeen went after a full ball from Imran Khan but edged his attempted drive to second slip, and then the introduction of Yasir brought Cook’s uncharacteristically faulty sweep to deep square-leg. England sat at 130/3 in the second innings before the close of day 4.

But they were to go from 206 without further loss to 242 all out.

The highest total England have ever chased down successfully in the fourth innings is 332, against Australia in 1928-29. Usually a center-order batsmen, the all-rounder has struggled as Cook’s associate, averaging simply 12 this collection.

Sensing the defeat in ongoing second Test, England turned their attentions towards dirty-tricks as they leveled allegations against Pakistan pacer of ball tempering.

“This is a different England side”, Younis said.

“It is a pitch to let the ball come to you and punch it more, rather than playing the ball away from your body”. The third and final test will be played in Sharjah from November. 1.

Misbah and Younus have converted 70% of their fifty partnerships to hundred partnerships – the best conversion rate of any pair with at least 15 fifty partnerships. “I think pitches suit us and that’s why we’ve performed well here”.

“Obviously, Root is a very good player and a very aggressive player”, he said. “He’s not an opening bat, he showed in Abu Dhabi it’s not his natural game”.

However Younis, who passed 1,000 runs against England in the course of his 118 and is therefore well qualified to comment on the strengths of this vintage compared to the previous England teams that he has faced, is sure that they will be stronger in the closing stages of the match. “You can say I’m being negative but this game is done”.