Razaullah Shines as Pakistan Revives Test at Edgbaston

The third Rothesay Test finally caught fire on day three. After two days of drizzle, drift and one-way traffic, a 21-year-old debutant walked out at No. 9 and turned Edgbaston into a fairground.

England still need only 130 to win after Pakistan were bowled out for 449. On paper, it looks routine. It did not feel that way as Razaullah tore into an attack that had bullied Pakistan all series and left England’s new regime scrambling for answers.

A debut that shook the ground

When Razaullah arrived, Pakistan were 318-8, still two runs behind, and staring at another meek finish to a shambolic tour. There were more than two hours left in the day. England could smell the series sweep and a Saturday stroll.

Instead, they were hit by a storm.

Razaullah’s 81 from 63 balls was not a late-order cameo; it was a full-scale assault. He launched nine sixes, equalling Ben Stokes’ record for the most in a Test innings in England and matching Tim Southee’s mark for a Test debutant. Every clean strike felt like a rebellion against the narrative of this tour.

He found a willing accomplice in Muhammad Abbas. The pair added 121 for the eighth wicket, a stand that started as survival and turned into mayhem. Abbas, hardly a natural slogger, muscled 42 with two sixes of his own, reverse-sweeping Dan Lawrence and heaving Ollie Robinson over cow corner as if he had been doing it all his life.

England frayed. The bowlers kept banging it in, the ball kept disappearing.

Gus Atkinson was launched into the Edgbaston building site, three times in a single over. Jofra Archer saw two deliveries sail back over his head for consecutive sixes. Fielders retreated to the rope, eight men patrolling the boundary as Atkinson persisted with the short stuff at Razaullah. It looked less like a Test match and more like a desperate death-overs defence.

The end, when it came, was chaotic. Abbas poked Josh Tongue to point with the light fading. Razaullah then hammered Lawrence for his record-equalling ninth six, survived an lbw decision on review to a roar from the Hollies Stand, and finally overbalanced to be stumped. He walked off to a rapturous ovation, a new star born in the least forgiving circumstances.

Pakistan finally show some fight

That it even reached that point owed much to a top order that, for the first time this series, refused to fold.

Resuming on 55-2 and 268 behind, Pakistan were one more collapse away from humiliation. Instead, Shan Masood and Azan Awais dug in. Their third-wicket partnership of 125 was built on patience and clean strokeplay, particularly from Awais, who looks a genuine prospect at 21. He drove nicely through the off side and played with a calm that belied both his age and the chaos of this tour.

Awais’ 59 ended in frustration, a tickle down the leg side off Lawrence’s off-spin. The dismissal broke a stand that had quietened England and the crowd.

Masood, in what is likely his final Test in the country where he went to school, was composed and controlled. He moved to 95 and seemed destined for a farewell hundred until Lawrence, this time at gully, flung out a hand and pulled off a spectacular one-handed catch off Atkinson. It was a brutal way to miss a century, but a moment that briefly swung the day back England’s way.

Babar Azam then took charge. His 76 oozed class, full of crisp drives and assured footwork. When the ball moved, he left well. When it didn’t, he punished. Yet England’s short-ball plan either side of tea unsettled him. Tongue finally forced the error with a bouncer, Babar’s dismissal the first of four wickets to fall for 40. At that point, a three-day finish looked inevitable.

Then Razaullah walked in and tore up the script.

This was the first time in the series Pakistan had passed 200, the first time they had batted beyond 51 overs. From 133 all out on day one and 0-2 in the second innings, they somehow reached 449. They did not just avoid embarrassment in Birmingham; they clawed back a sliver of pride.

England rattled, questions raised

For two and a half days, England’s attack had dictated terms. Tongue’s 4-42 in the first innings, Robinson’s relentless form, Archer’s pace, Atkinson’s promise – all of it had Pakistan on the rack. Joe Root’s captaincy, often prodded in his first spell in charge, had barely been tested in this series.

On Friday, the test arrived.

For most of the day, England were disciplined. When the ball moved, they held a good length. When it went flat, they turned to the bumper plan at the right moments and took sharp catches, not least Lawrence’s grab to deny Masood.

Then Razaullah and Abbas came together, and England lost the plot.

Fields scattered to the boundary for the bouncer barrage. When the bowlers tried to pitch it up, they either missed their lines or found Pakistan’s defence suddenly solid. Robinson, in the form of his life, watched the second new ball go to Lawrence’s part-time spin. Root briefly left the field. Archer’s irritation at Razaullah’s treatment was impossible to hide.

By the time the tail finally folded, England looked drained and oddly relieved. They had allowed a game they controlled to drift into something more awkward, more alive.

They still hold the upper hand. England’s first-innings 453, built on runs throughout the order – Harry Brook’s 75, Jamie Smith’s 69, Lawrence’s 65, a fluent 60 from Keaton Gay and 50 from Robinson – means they need only 130 to complete a 3-0 clean sweep.

On this surface, with that batting line-up, they should get them.

But Pakistan now have something they have lacked all tour: a total to defend and a performance to believe in. The Hollies Stand, flat for much of the first two days, finally found its voice as bat and ball went toe to toe. A dead rubber suddenly feels alive.

England will wake up knowing the job ought to be straightforward. Pakistan will wake up knowing that, thanks to a fearless 21-year-old at No. 9, it might not be.