Razaullah's Debut Blitz Sets Up Nervy Chase for England

England will begin Saturday needing 130 runs, but the story of this Test tilted dramatically on Friday evening, when an unknown 21-year-old number nine turned Edgbaston inside out.

Pakistan, 133 all out in the first innings and 0-2 second time around, had been drifting towards another meek surrender in a shambolic tour. By the time Razaullah walked off to a standing ovation, they had 449 on the board, pride restored and England rattled.

A tour finally wakes up

For two days, this series finale had felt like an obligation. Sparse crowd, flat cricket, a mismatch heading for an early finish. Then day three arrived and, at last, a proper Test broke out.

From 55-2 overnight and still 268 behind, Pakistan’s top order did something they had not managed all series: they stayed. Shan Masood and Azan Awais stretched their third-wicket stand to 125, batting with a calm that has been conspicuously absent.

Awais, just 21 and already looking a serious prospect, stroked his way to 59 before feathering Dan Lawrence’s off-spin down the leg side. Masood, back in the country where he went to school and likely playing his final Test in England, was composed and assured. He moved to 95 and seemed destined for a cathartic hundred until Gus Atkinson induced a slash to gully, where Lawrence flung himself to his right and clung on with one hand. A brutal way to miss out.

Masood’s dismissal did not break Pakistan. He and captain Babar Azam had added 89 for the fourth wicket, and Babar himself unfurled a stylish 76. Drives, clips, punches off the back foot – this was the class that has made him one of the game’s elite.

Then England went to the short ball.

Either side of tea, the bouncers came. Babar never quite looked settled against it. Eventually, Josh Tongue pushed him back once too often and the captain fell, the first of four wickets to tumble for 40. At that point, with Pakistan still hundreds behind overall and the tail exposed, a three-day finish felt inevitable.

It was anything but.

Razaullah rips up the script

Pakistan were 318-8, still two runs adrift, more than two hours left in the day. The game seemed to be drifting towards the predictable. Then Razaullah walked in and treated Edgbaston like his own backyard.

His 81 from 63 balls was not a cameo. It was a full-scale assault.

Nine times he cleared the rope, equalling Ben Stokes’ record for the most sixes in a Test innings in England and matching Tim Southee’s mark for the most by a Test debutant. These were not mishits. They were clean, towering blows that had England’s quicks staring at the middle distance and the Hollies Stand roaring itself hoarse.

Atkinson copped three sixes in an over, one launched into the Edgbaston building site. Jofra Archer, so often the intimidator, found himself driven straight back over his head for two more. Every time England thought they had found a response, Razaullah swung again.

He was not alone. Muhammad Abbas, usually the very definition of a tailender, joined in with 42 of his own, including two sixes and a series of audacious strokes. He reverse-swept Lawrence, then muscled Ollie Robinson over cow corner. Their eighth-wicket stand of 121 transformed the mood entirely.

England’s bowlers, who have controlled this series with ease, suddenly ran out of answers. Fields scattered to the rope. Bouncers flew, but when they tried to go full, they missed the stumps or met solid defence. The discipline that had underpinned their dominance slipped away in the chaos.

Joe Root’s decision to hand the second new ball to Lawrence instead of Robinson, in the form of his life, only deepened the sense of muddle. Archer’s frustration was obvious. Root briefly left the field. By the end, Atkinson was reduced to banging in bouncers at Razaullah with eight men on the boundary, a scene more T20 than Test.

The pressure finally told in the fading light. Abbas poked Tongue to point, ending the partnership that had driven England to distraction. Razaullah, though, kept swinging. He clubbed Lawrence for his record-equalling ninth six, survived an lbw on review to huge cheers, then finally overbalanced and was stumped.

He walked off to a rapturous ovation, a new star born in the middle of what was supposed to be a dead rubber.

England chastened, but still in control

Strip away the late carnage and England’s work for most of the day was solid. When the ball moved, they held a probing length. The short-ball ploy against Babar worked. They caught well – Lawrence’s grab to remove Masood was outstanding.

Yet when Razaullah and Abbas came together, the hosts lost the plot. Plans frayed, execution wobbled, and a Pakistan side that had not passed 200 or batted beyond 51 overs all series suddenly looked transformed.

Pakistan’s 449 meant England’s first-innings 453, built on contributions from Harry Brook (75), Jamie Smith (69), Lawrence (65), Emilio Gay (60) and Robinson (50), no longer felt like a knockout blow. Instead, it became a platform for a chase that is now laced with jeopardy.

The late wickets at least dragged England off the field with some relief. Chastened, yes, but still firmly placed to complete a 3-0 clean sweep. A target of 130, on this surface, with this batting line-up, should be well within reach.

Yet that is the point. It should be.

Pakistan, hammered in the first two Tests, bowled out for 133 on day one here and twice staring at humiliation in Birmingham, have somehow dragged this contest into the weekend and given themselves a total to defend. The Hollies Stand, quiet for much of the series, finally found its voice as bat and ball went toe to toe.

England remain favourites. Pakistan are alive. And after Razaullah’s fearless debut, the chase that once looked routine suddenly carries an edge that could define the feel of this entire summer.