England are not completely out of this Test, yet would be in a far better position had they taken their chances.
The highly impressive Brydon Carse was the victim of three misses. Saud Shakeel had only two when he flashed past Root at first slip. Root, trying to mitigate low bounce, was standing so close he was wearing a helmet. It was incredibly tough, but the kind England had to take.
Carse had Rizwan edge to Ben Stokes to keep the door ajar, before a crucial over. Smith’s drop off Salman was an aberration, as bad as it gets for a Test keeper. Root has the excuse of being close, though it was still a regulation slip catch to his right. If either had been taken, Pakistan’s lead would have been under 200 with six wickets down. England and captain Stokes were noticeably and unusually deflated.
England flickered when Leach and Shoaib Bashir combined to take three wickets for 11 runs after tea, including Shakeel for 31. Running out of partners, Salman had 25 from 57 balls and jolted into life.
He took 30 off the next 19 balls he faced, including a straight six off Jack Leach to pass 50. With the support of Sajid, who overturned being given lbw to a Matthew Potts full toss, the ninth-wicket pair scored at nearly six an over.
It was starting to become questionable if England would bat before the close until the tireless Carse induced a miscued pull off Salman. By then the damage had been done.
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