Off-spinner Khan took 3-55 and left-arm spinner Ali grabbed 2-53 bowled unchanged in the first session to trouble the batters on a variable bouncy wicket which was dried with the help of industrials-sized fans and outdoor heaters to counter England’s ‘Bazball’ aggressive batting.

Only the opening pair of Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley reached double figures, but rest of the batters struggled to cope up against both spinners on a tricky dry wicket before lunch.

Captain Ben Stokes was unbeaten on 6 and Jamie Smith was not out on 5 in a session which saw both Pakistan spinners hitting the right areas from the onset.

Stokes won England’s first toss in the last eight test matches and elected to bat but Pakistan didn’t hesitate to deploy spinners from both ends for the first time in a home test match as both slow bowlers shared 30 overs in the session between them.

Duckett and Crawley raised a half century stand inside the dozen overs with their sweep and reverse sweeps after getting a measure of both spinners for the first four overs before England lost wickets in cluster.

Ali lured Crawley to drive on the offside but the ball flew to backward point before Khan pinned Ollie Pope and Joe Root leg before wicket in his successive overs.

Ali couldn’t grab a hard return catch soon after Duckett had completed his half century but in the same over had the left-hander lbw on the backfoot of a delivery which didn’t rise above the ankle height.

Harry Brook then dragged his sweep shot against Khan back onto his stumps around his legs as England slipped to 98-5 on a wicket tailor-made for spinners.

The expected slow pitch has encouraged England to include Rehan Ahmed as third specialist spinner along with left-arm spinner Jack Leach and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.

Ahmed, who hasn’t played an international match since February, is one of the two changes England made from the side which lost the second test by 152 runs on a recycled wicket in Multan as Pakistan won its first home test since 2021 and leveled the series 1-1.

Ahmed replaced fast bowler fast bowler Matthew Potts while pace bowler Brydon Carse was rested and Gus Atkinson returns after featuring in England’s memorable innings and 47-run win in the first test.

Pakistan retained the same playing XI which earned captain Shan Masood his first win after losing six in a row since his elevation as red-ball skipper. Khan and Ali claimed all 20 wickets to nullify England batters and Pakistan also retained leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood, who bowled only six overs in the second test.

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