England will look to salvage something out of their tour of Pakistan when the two teams meet for the third and the final Test match at Dubai.
Pakistan have already won the series 2-0 and despite England coming close to knocking the home team off in the second game, they fell woefully short in the end. England had done well to restrict Pakistan to 257 and 214 but were bowled out for a paltry 72 in the second innings to hand over a 72-run win to the opposition.
England’s travails against spinners in general and Saeed Ajmal in particular led to their collapse in both, the first Test and the first innings of the second. And when one thought that they had finally managed to play Ajmal better, it was Abdur Rehman who ran through the order in the second innings like a hot knife through butter – a six-wicket haul to win his side the game and him the man-of-the-match.
Chances are that England will get in Ravi Bopara, who is a more acclaimed player of spin but it isn’t yet known who he will replace. One of Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell or Eoin Morgan could get the axe.
England showed marked improvement in their bowling, after having decided to get in an extra spinner. Monty Panesar’s return to international cricket got him a sensational seven wickets in the game while Stuart Broad seemed to have adapted well enough to bowl on these slow pitches.
The home team have done most things right but their batting collapses in the two innings is something they can work on. Younis Khan hasn’t got too many runs in this series (62 @ 20.66) and even Taufeeq Umar’s form has tapered away after the first innings 58 in the first Test match.
The coach Mohsin Khan has already proclaimed that the side was desperate to win the series 3-0 but one can expect England to come out harder in a bid to salvage something out of the series.
The Pakistan v England 3rd Test at Dubai will be played at 6.00 am GMT from February 3.
