In what has come as a blow to Pakistan's aspirations of winning the first Test against England in Multan, ace spinner Abrar Ahmed has been admitted to a hospital after falling ill during the match. He bowled 31 overs on the third day of the match but complained of a high fever and body aches on the morning of Day 4 and didn't take the field with the rest of the team.
A Pakistan Cricket Board statement said that Abrar had undergone several tests and a further update will be issued once results were received.
In Abrar's absence, Agha Salman, Saim Ayub and Saud Shakeel had to roll over their arms. Salman got the prized wicket of Joe Root while Ayub dismissed triple-centurion Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson.
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In his 35 overs during England's first innings, Abrar gave away 174 runs as the England batters, especially Root and Brook, hit him towards all parts of the ground. He made his Test debut at the same venue against the same opposition two years back and took 11 wickets in the match.
Abrar made his professional debut as a teenager in the Pakistan Super League but then had to remain out of the game for a few years due to a persistent back issue. Ahead of Pakistan's tour of Australia last year, he suffered a nerve injury and missed out the entire tour. He didn't play the first Test against Bangladesh either, a tactical mistake that Pakistan made.
England set records and reached milestones in compiling an extraordinary 823/7 declared. It was the fourth time a side scored over 800 runs and the first time this century.
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Just three totals have been bigger: Sri Lanka's 952/6 declared against India back in 1997, England's 903/7 declared against Australia in 1938 and England's 849 all out against the Windies in 1930.