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England were facing a difficult fourth-innings chase as Pakistan stretched their lead in the second Test to 209 on an increasingly difficult Multan pitch.
Nine wickets fell in the first two sessions on day three, England losing four for 52 as they conceded a 75-run first-innings deficit and Pakistan reaching 134 for five by tea.
Most of the damage was done by spin as the reused surface began to offer lavish turn, Sajid Khan finishing with figures of seven for 111 in England’s 291 all out and Shoaib Bashir claiming three wickets before lunch to threaten a fightback.
But the impressive Brydon Carse found a way to make his pace count in the afternoon, getting Mohammad Rizwan caught at slip and seeing three edges go to ground as the game threatened to drift out of the tourists’ grasp.
Joe Root was too close in an advanced slip position to make a serious attempt at Saud Shakeel’s thick edge as it sailed past him at head height, but two drops in three balls left the Durham seamer covering his mouth in disbelief.
Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith allowed the simplest of chances to pop out of his gloves to reprieve Salman Agha on four, then Root failed to hold a low catch just a few seconds later.
With run-scoring likely to be fiendishly difficult in the closing stages of the match, England must have been demoralised to see Shakeel and Salman head to the tea break unbeaten.
Resuming on 239 for six, England lost their first wicket in the fifth over, Carse pumping Sajid down the ground but failing to clear the man at long-on.
That sealed the off-spinner’s five-for and he soon added a sixth as he ripped one through the legs of Matthew Potts, nutmegging the Durham player with a big turner.
Smith was running out of partners and decided to take matters into his own hands, looking to release the pressure by planting Noman Ali for six down the ground. England’s number seven was always reaching and sent a skyscraper of a catch to long-off for 21.
Pakistan were still 104 ahead as the last-wicket pair came together and would have been slightly frustrated to see their lead whittled down to 75 as Jack Leach scored an unbeaten 25 at a run-a-ball.
It fell to Sajid to provide the final blow, Bashir looping into the on-side via a mis-hit sweep.
England had 15 overs to land some blows of their own and while Bashir was less controlled than Leach, who sent down five overs for eight runs, he found the wicket-taking deliveries.
Abdullah Shafique was first, DRS suggesting a tiny feather as the ball turned down the leg side despite the batter’s apparent disbelief.
Bashir then bagged a pair of left-handers as he attacked from round the wicket, drifting the ball in and spinning it away as Shan Masood then Saim Ayub nicked to Ollie Pope at second slip.
The latter came from the very last ball of the morning session, sending England back to the pavilion with some wind in their sails despite an already worrying lead building.
There had not been a single over of pace before lunch, but Carse stepped up in striking fashion in the afternoon with seven highly accomplished overs.
His solitary wicket, Rizwan poking around a fourth-stump line and diverting to Root, was the least he deserved as he repeatedly asserted himself on the Pakistan batters.
In the end, Pakistan’s return of 91 for two between lunch and tea was enough to strengthen their hold on the match but England had not yet conceded defeat.
