Teenager Rehan Ahmed takes two wickets as England bowl out Pakistan

The opening day of this series finale in the city of lights was another fast-forward affair and one to savour for the travelling England supporters, their team chiselling out all 10 Pakistan wickets on a slow, low pitch. Among them was a pair of wickets for young Rehan Ahmed.

It started with a kiss, Ahmed embraced by his doting father, Naeem, after receiving his cap in the huddle at the tender age of 18 years and 126 days. And it ended with his teammates abuzz at his success, England’s youngest men’s Test cricketer – a leg-spinner whose career has risen this year like one of the kites overhead in Karachi – claiming figures of two for 89 from 22 overs on debut.

It wasn’t just the wickets column that felt so uplifting, rather the manner in which it came about. Once Ahmed put an understandably tentative initial spell of five overs none for 37 out of his system, he grew in confidence, producing a mix dip and fizz to finish the headline act of a day that saw Pakistan bowled out for 304 in 79 overs and England reach seven for one from three before sunset.

The first was a vital breakthrough in the circumstances. Saud Shakeel was rebuilding alongside Babar Azam in the afternoon, guiding Pakistan to an ominous 162 for three in the 42nd over and displaying the kind of resolve that has made the left-hander a hardy perennial all series. Ben Stokes, again a tinker man all day, turned to Ahmed in search of inspiration.

What followed met the captain’s brief, Ahmed first beating Shakheel’s outside edge with a ripping googly and then, with the follow-up, locating the exact same length with a leg-break that dropped, tickled the inside edge, ballooned off the pad and produced a wonderful diving catch from Ollie Pope at short leg.

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