And welcome to coverage of day four of the Third Test from Karachi, which begins with England 55 points short of a historic victory with eight wickets remaining, on the cusp of becoming Pakistan’s first side to win in Pakistan.
Yesterday was all about Rehan Ahmed and his five wickets and the young lad was wrapped in a smile last night, bobbing from foot to foot, hugging his gum, answering questions.
Rehan Ahmed praised his record-breaking five-wicket haul on his debut as a “dream come true” as England came within 55 runs of a first-ever series victory in Pakistan.
“Probably the best day of my life again. Getting five for my debut is a dream come true, so yeah, it’s amazing,” he told BBC’s Test Match Special.
“Of course I thought about it, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t, but at the same time I just tried to forget it more because the more you chase a wicket, it’s not going to happen. So it was nice to have a leg-spinning wicket.”
Ahmed was most proud of the ball he beat Mohammad Rizwan with.
“I mean, I’ve bowled better balls not to get wickets, so just to bowl Babar Azam out is a dream come true, he’s a very, very good player,” he said.
“I loved Rizwan’s wicket as I’ve been working pretty hard on my leg spin with Jeetan over the last two months. [Patel, England spin coach]so to get one that kind of flipped it to the other side was awesome.
England’s chase started in breathtaking fashion as the required total was quickly reduced to 80 before Zak Crawley’s dismissal for a run-a-ball 41 saw Ahmed surprisingly enter at number three.
However, he only made 10 of seven pitches before being bowled by Abrar Ahmed, and looked furious at himself when he hit the bat as he left the pitch.
“Stokesy just said ‘put on your pad’ and I was like ‘perfect, it’s going to be a great day,'” Ahmed said.
“Just Try to Finish It Tonight” [was the message from the captain] so that was the plan. I think we would have if we had had the last seven overs of the day.”