Pakistan reaches 499-7, still trails England by 158 runs

Delhi Dec 3 (BNA): England batted four late on Saturday to revive their hopes of beating Pakistan two days before the first Test of cricket with seven players so far scoring centuries.

Pakistan reached 499-7 in their first innings on a lifeless wicket and were still 158 runs behind at stumps on the third day with play again ending early due to fading light, according to the Associated Press.

Captain Babar Azam (136), Imam-ul-Haq (121) and Abdullah Shafiq (114) all hit tons of run-friendly wickets which Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramez Raja feels is not a great advertisement for Test cricket.

But England responded after drinking tea when Ollie Robinson broke the 123-run stand between Babar and newcomer Saud Shakeel (37). Finding the outside edge of the bat of Shakil and Babbar, Robinson, who hit 19 fours and six in his eighth hundred, played a cut against the Will Jacks (3-132).

The veteran James Anderson (1-47) used all his 175 Test runs on an unresponsive wicket to the bowlers, before finally getting his first wicket in the 19th over when Mohd Rizwan (29) was caught mid-wicket short.

Babar and Shakil denied England success in the middle session and led Pakistan to a 411-3 by tea with the Pakistan captain dominating both pace and speed.

Babar was the seventh batsman in three days to score a hundred in England’s first Test in Pakistan for 17 years after the visitors scored 657 on the back of hundreds from Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Harry Brooke and Olly Pope.

Babar used his feet well against the spinners and racked up a half-century off 68 balls when he lifted Jack Leach (2-160) at midfield for six after lunch.

He reached one hundred balls off 126 when he hit a back-foot driven boundary.

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