Pakistan struck late in the day to leave themselves needing eight wickets on the final day of this third Test in Sharjah after earlier setting England a target of 284 for victory.
Not for the first time in this series, England will be relying on Alastair Cook (17*) and Joe Root (8*) to save them when the tourists resume the final day needing to bat the overs for a draw or score 238 runs for an unlikely win.
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The pair will have to produce a final innings of the highest calibre against a potent Pakistan spin bowling unit that seems destined to secure a 2-0 series win when England get going again on 46-2.
The task at hand for England is great, and it got even greater with the departures of Moeen Ali (22) and Ian Bell (0) before the close.
Both fell to the retiring Shoaib Malik, first Moeen trapped lbw and then Bell bowled playing all around an arm ball from around the wicket.
Questions will continue to be asked about Moeen’s place alongside Cook after scoring just 84 runs at 14.00 in his six innings as an opener, while Bell continues his search for form which he looked to have returned to in grinding fashion here before his soft dismissal.
.@realshoaibmalik takes 2/8 to help restrict England to 46/2 in their chase of 284 https://t.co/8sUXlZF8L5 #PakvEng pic.twitter.com/syhk5OCMNA
— ICC (@ICC) November 4, 2015
England are left needing a sixth-highest fourth innings winning total in their history, and largest in Asia.
Further to that, only once has a team won in Sharjah batting last, Pakistan chasing down 302 to beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in January last year.
Starting the day unbeaten on 97, Mohammad Hafeez earlier made light work of the remaining three runs required for his ninth Test century before going on to make 151 in a potentially match series winning innings for his country.
Hafeez’s 380 runs are now the second highest of any of the batsmen in this series, coming at 63.33 and including another two fifties in his six goes.
By the time Hafeez hauled out to long-on off Moeen Ali, Pakistan were, in terms of their lead, 185-6 and the game, although not beyond England, in Pakistan’s favour.
Pakistan were cruising early on, the wicket of night’s watcham Rahat Ali the only one to fall in the first session as Hafeez and his captain Misbah-ul-Haq took them 157 runs ahead of England by lunch.
The pair had put on 93 for the fifth wicket by the time Misbah (38) fell lbw to Broad for the second time of the match.
After the departure of Hafeez, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed set about preventing a Pakistan middle-order collapse that has come to denine them this series.
England would have been encouraged by the opening of an end with Pakistan’s batsmen from 7 and below scoring just 149 runs at an average of 10.64 before Shafiq and Sarfraz came together.
With Shafiq dropping a position in the batting order and having enjoyed a fine series to date, England knew they needed another breakthrough in quick fashion if they were to make their chasing total manageable.
It wasn’t to be, however, Pakistan’s seventh wicket pair pushing the lead comfortably beyond England’s highest fourth innings run chase of 209 against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2010.
Sarfraz eventually headed back to the pavilion for a run-a-ball 36 after a 55 run partnership with Shafiq which extended Pakistan’s lead to 240.
With Cook (21*) and @joeroot05 (2*) still in, England close on 46-2. 238 more tomorrow to win the 3rd Test #PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/CXLnc7sqdM
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) November 4, 2015
And while England were delighted for the breakthrough, the way in which Samit Patel spun the ball beautifully from outside leg stump to hit middle and off was a worrying glimpse into the future.
Patel should have followed the wicket of Sarfraz up with Shafiq’s only for James Anderson to somehow drop the Pakistan batsman at mid-on when it was struck right down his throat.
Shah fell at tea just two runs later, becoming Adil Rashid’s first victim of the match, but Shafiq’s wicket was the one England not only wanted, but needed.
The departure of one leg-spinner to the other took us to tea with the hosts sitting pretty with a 247 run lead but only two wickets remaining.
Pakistan were eventually all-out for 355, with Shafiq making 46, to set England the target with a minimum of 112 overs to bowl.
It always looked too much an ask for England, even before their late losses.
