Razaullah’s 81 Transforms Pakistan's Test Match
Edgbaston finally came alive on day three. After two flat, one-sided days and the threat of a two-day finish hanging over the series, a proper Test match broke out – thanks largely to a 21-year-old debutant batting at number nine.
England will begin Saturday needing 130 to win the Third Rothesay Test after Pakistan, seemingly destined for another meek collapse, roared to 449 all out. At the heart of it stood Razaullah, who walked in with his side still behind and walked off to a standing ovation, having turned a dead rubber into a live contest.
His 81 from 63 balls was wild, audacious and utterly transformative. He hit nine sixes – equalling Ben Stokes’ record for the most in a Test innings in England and matching Tim Southee’s mark for the most by a Test debutant. Every swing shifted the mood. Every blow into the stands dragged Pakistan further away from humiliation and closer to respectability.
When he arrived, Pakistan were 318-8, still two runs behind England’s first-innings 453 and with more than two hours left in the day. England’s attack, dominant all series, sensed a swift kill. Instead, they were mauled.
Razaullah found an unlikely ally in Muhammad Abbas. The pair added 121 for the eighth wicket, a partnership stitched together with nerve and nerve alone. Abbas, usually a study in stoicism, joined the chaos with 42 that included two sixes, reverse-sweeps off Dan Lawrence and a pair of muscular blows off Ollie Robinson over cow corner.
The assault left England frazzled. Fields scattered to the rope. Plans disintegrated. By the time Lawrence finally stumped Razaullah in a frantic finale, the light fading and the crowd roaring, Pakistan had not only wiped out the deficit but built a lead that gives them a sliver of hope.
They deserved it. On a tour that has lurched from disappointment to disarray, this was a day that restored some pride.
From 55-2 overnight and still 268 behind, Pakistan could easily have folded. Instead, their top order dug in. Shan Masood and Azan Awais resumed with quiet purpose, stretching their third-wicket stand to 125. Awais, just 21 and already looking a serious prospect, picked off anything loose through the off side in a composed 59 before glancing Lawrence down the leg side.
Masood, back in the country where he went to school and almost certainly playing his final Test here, looked destined for a farewell century. He cruised to 95, only to be denied by a moment of brilliance – Lawrence again, this time at gully, flinging himself to his right to pluck a one-handed catch off Gus Atkinson. It was a cruel end to an innings that had held Pakistan together.
Babar Azam then unfurled a familiar script: time, class, and strokes that seemed to slow the day down. His 76 oozed authority, but England sensed a crack and went short at him either side of tea. The bouncer plan worked. A Tongue lifter forced the mistake, Babar gloving or fending to depart just as he threatened to anchor the innings deep into the evening.
At that point, a three-day finish felt inevitable. Pakistan were wobbling, and England’s seamers smelled blood. Four wickets fell for 40. The Hollies Stand, so subdued earlier in the match, began to anticipate the kill.
Then Razaullah walked out and tore up the script.
He started with freewheeling aggression and ended with a knock that changed the shape of the game. Anything short disappeared. Anything in his arc vanished. Atkinson was launched into the Edgbaston building site, three times in a single over. Jofra Archer, visibly irked, saw two balls disappear straight back over his head.
This was not blind slogging. Once the adrenaline settled, Razaullah picked his moments, rode his luck, and turned carnage into calculation. Every time England tried to drag him onto the front foot, he either defended solidly or cleared the front leg and swung hard and true.
Abbas, too, refused to play the supporting extra. His reverse-sweeps off Lawrence summed up Pakistan’s change in attitude: no longer clinging on, but hitting back. When he finally poked Tongue to point, the partnership had already ripped up England’s plans and the day’s script.
The closing overs were chaos. Razaullah hammered Lawrence for his record-equalling ninth six, survived an lbw decision on review to a roar from the stands, then charged again and was stumped. He walked off to a rapturous ovation, a new name etched into Pakistan’s Test folklore after just one innings.
For England, the late wickets came as a relief, but the damage to their aura was done. Root’s captaincy, largely untested this series as his attack ran through Pakistan twice over, suddenly faced real scrutiny. The decision to give Lawrence the second new ball ahead of Robinson – who has been in the form of his life – baffled many. As Razaullah and Abbas swung freely, England’s bowlers either banged it in and watched it sail away, or pitched it up and met a firm bat.
By the end, Atkinson was reduced to bowling bouncers with eight men on the fence, a sight that underlined just how thoroughly England had lost control.
Yet for all the chaos at the close, much of England’s work earlier in the day had been sound. When the ball moved, they held their length. The short-ball ploy against Babar was well-timed and well-executed. They caught sharply. Pakistan’s top order simply matched them, session by session, for the first time all series.
That alone marks a staggering turnaround. This was the first time Pakistan have gone beyond 200 in the series, the first time they have batted more than 51 overs. From 133 all out on day one and 0-2 in their second innings, they have somehow dragged the contest into the weekend and forced England to think.
England remain strong favourites. Chasing 130 on a surface that has not yet gone rogue should be straightforward for a batting line-up that piled up 453, with Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Lawrence, Jacob Bethell Gay and Robinson all among the runs. Yet the memory of that late-evening onslaught will linger.
Pakistan now have something to defend, a total born from defiance and a little bit of madness. The crowd have finally found their voice. England’s bowlers have finally been put under pressure. And a 21-year-old debutant has turned what looked like a procession into a contest that might still have one last twist.
