Banter livens up Day 4 as Pakistan press for a win against England

Joe Root was looking steady at the crease for England at close on Day 4 while Pakistan need seven wickets to win. Gareth Copley / Getty Images

DUBAI // Seldom has the connection between Pakistan and England been considered a friendly rivalry. Too much water has passed under the bridge for that.

The current vintage have been doing their best to keep up some sort of pretence, though. It starts with the two captains, Misbah-ul-Haq and Alastair Cook, who seem to be amiability personified.

It is the same in the stands, too. Just after the tea break on Day 4 at the Dubai International Stadium, a supporter wearing a dark green shalwar kameez, with a white crescent and star embroidered on it, went and sat among England’s most voluble fans.

He draped the flag he was carrying around his new friends. They traded selfies. The accompanying cuddly-toy tiger – a mascot which usually makes it to the ground in some form when Pakistan play – was briefly trussed up in an English Barmy T-shirt.

It could not have been more cordial if they had shared out some cucumber sandwiches and poured some chai.

Then, soon after, just as the sides were breaking for mid-session drinks, a brief flicker of antagonism. Joe Root, an unlikely prize fighter, was incensed after Wahab Riaz had made what had seemed an innocuous stop at fine leg.

It appeared as though the England batsman was suggesting Pakistan’s pace-spearhead had been clumsy – at best – with the sole of his bowling boots in stopping the ball.

“Riaz certainly won’t be signing for Chelsea in the Premier League with his football skills,” Paul Farbrace, England’s assistant coach, said, perhaps unaware of the current Premier League form guide. “It happened. You move on. The umpires dealt with it at the time and that is the end of it.”

The officials did a fine job of defusing the confrontation.

Aggression may not be written in the laws of cricket, next to the bit about the spirit of the game. But a dose of it often enriches proceedings, though.

The passage of play that followed was every bit as compelling as Wahab’s morning effort the day before, which might have decided the game. He was bombing down 144 kph bouncers. Root made it through with his wicket in tact, though.

He might have regarded that mini-battle as 1-0 to him. If that is the case, though, his side were already 5-0 down on aggregate from the first leg, and are battling to force penalties today.

“England are a powerful team so they will fight back and they still have good batsmen in their side,” said Younis Khan, who hit his 31st Test century earlier in the day. “The way Joe Root is playing at the moment is fantastic. The young guy from Yorkshire, he plays spin bowling very well so there’s still hard work for us if we want to win this game.”

According to Farbrace, the battling qualities Root showed are exactly what England require if they are to do the improbable and save the Test. They will start Day 5 with seven wickets to play with.

“I think he has show with his high level of batting and his commitment to the cause that he is up for a scrap,” Farbrace said of Root, who scored his second half-century of the Test. “He fights, he gets stuck in. He comes across as this nice young lad, but actually there is fight in him.

“That is why he has scored so many runs in so many different situations. There is never a better time than the moment to show this team have fight and character.”

Following Day 3’s disappointment, Farbrace said England must show resilience, “but more importantly they have to play with a high level of skill, because they are going to need to if we are going to come away with a draw.”

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