Cricket: England long odds to overhaul Pakistan in second Test

England trail Pakistan by 261 runs heading into the fourth day of the second Test in Multan, leaving the visitors with plenty to do if they wish to pull off another miracle victory.

Beginning the day on 6/239, the visitors were unable to add significantly to their overnight score, falling for 291 inside the first session of day three.

A rapid 25 runs from 25 balls by Jack Leach was the highlight of England’s efforts as they attempted to haul in Pakistan’s first innings total of 366.

With a 73-run lead, Pakistan then posted an admirable 221 runs in conditions that were challenging at times.

Salman Agha was the bedrock of the Pakistani innings, racking up 63 runs after being dropped twice in single figures.

Saim Ayub (22), Karan Ghulam (26), Saud Shakeel (31), Mohammad Rizwan (23) and Sajid Khan (22) all made contributions as well in what was a typically nervy third innings.

England’s spinners again did the bulk of the damage, with Shoaib Bashir claiming 4/66 and Leach grabbing 3/67 to go with his four first-innings wickets.

However, the visitors made their own job tougher by losing two wickets before stumps.

Both Zak Crawley (3) and first-innings centurion Ben Duckett (0) fell cheaply, leaving the visitors reeling at 2/11.

Ollie Pope (21) and Joe Root (12) managed to steady the ship, taking England through to 36/2 at the close of play with 261 more runs required for victory.

Cricket betting sites are confident the hosts will be able to capture another seven English wickets on day four. putting Pakistan at $1.25 to win.

England are at long odds of $4 with BetOnline, but assistant coach Paul Collingwood still has hope that his side will be able to pull off another unlikely win in the subcontinent.

“The amazing thing is now there’s still hope, and there’s only hope because of the amazing things that these guys have done in the past,” he said.

“You look at that first Test in India, I don’t think anybody had given us any hope of going on to win that one, but someone like Ollie Pope goes out and makes a double (196).

“They are capable of doing amazing things.

“We’ve got to be realistic.

“It’s effectively the ninth day that wicket’s being played on tomorrow, and as we can see, it’s doing plenty for the spinners.

“There’s lots of cracks there… But we all know if you get on a roll and get a partnership going, anything can happen.

“It’d be one hell of a chase.

“It’s something that we’ll obviously relish and try to go for.”

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