\u201cWe had a little bit of pushback yesterday, which was, in a strange way, quite a good thing for the group,\u201d said Root, in a nod to Razaullah\u2019s incendiary 81. \u201cBut for us to come through it and be so convincing in the way that we\u2019ve finished the series off, and throughout the whole three games really, has been really pleasing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pakistan\u2019s Mohammad Abbas appeals successfully for lbw to dismiss England\u2019s Emilio Gay. Photograph: Andrew Boyers\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Root had walked out at the end of the first over with the scorecard in disarray at two for two. Abbas had nicked off Duckett first ball to continue a rather sorry Test match for England\u2019s opener, and then pinned Gay lbw for a duck that dented some of the credit built up by the left-hander\u2019s 60 in the first innings.<\/p>\n
Alongside Cox, whose start to Test cricket has been an assured one, Root immediately got down to business, batting on leg stump in an attempt to minimise the threat of lbw, and the scorecard soon started to tick over. On a pitch with no demons by this stage, all it needed was a couple of calm heads.<\/p>\n
Razaullah was unable to roll over his personal momentum after being handed the new ball \u2013 an early hand injury did not help \u2013 while no frontline spinner meant Abbas, bowling with the wicketkeeper stood up, was the only way that Babar Azam could make things claustrophobic out in the middle. There were two more chances created along the way and neither came to fruition.<\/p>\n
The first came when Root was on 20 and an expansive cover-drive cannoned into his leg-stump. Mohammad Ali was haring off in celebration, only to turn around and see the umpire\u2019s arm outstretched for a front foot no-ball, his 17th such offence in this series, but the first to rob him of a wicket.<\/p>\n
Joe Root\u2019s stump goes flying but he would be saved. Photograph: Andrew Boyers\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n
England would have been 36 for three and Root\u2019s response was emphatic, drilling Ali through the covers for four. Abbas then saw an edge off Root\u2019s bat fly between first and second slip on 34 without either man going for it \u2013 much to his disgust.<\/p>\n
The pressure eased, as this thinned-out, day-four crowd essentially watched a 90-minute net, a couple of tidy half-centuries, and the winning runs coming off a mis-field. Root has resumed the England captaincy with a pretty comfortable 3-0 series victory while knowing that tougher challenges are to come.<\/p>\n
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