Left arm spinner Abdur Rehman led
Pakistan to a crushing 72-run victory over English cricket team, taking a
career-best six wickets for 25 as the world’s
top-ranked Test side was embarrassingly skittled out for just 72
runs.
Victory on the fourth day of the
second Test earned Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match
series. The last match will be played next week at Dubai,
where England was trounced by 10 wickets in the first Test.
This is England’s first series
defeat after being unbeaten in their previous nine since their loss to
the West Indies in early 2009 — a sequence which saw them
rise to world number one in the Test rankings in August last year.
England never looked in any real
pursuit of the 145-run victory target after Pakistan was bowled out for
214, with Monty Panesar taking 6-62 in his comeback match
after an absence of nearly three years.
England’s batsman were clueless
against Pakistan’s spin twins Rehman and Ajmal and only English captain
Andrew Strauss (32) and Matt Prior (18) managed to reach
double figures.
