Watch: Saud Shakeel's controversial decision by third umpire Joel Wilson ends up costing Pakistan dearly

England registered a thrilling win by 26 runs in the second Test against Pakistan in Multan on Monday. With this win, the Ben Stokes-led side took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The Day 4 of the Test was completely action-packed as Pakistan resumed their innings on 198/4 with Saud Shakeel unbeaten on 54 and Faheem Ashraf unbeaten on 3.  England struck early in the day as Joe Root got rid of Faheem Ashraf leaving Pakistan at 210/5. Mohammad Nawaz joined Shakeel at the crease and the duo built an important partnership to bring Pakistan back into the game.

Nawaz and Shakeel added 80 runs for the sixth wicket and made England toil hard in the field. The debutant Shakeel looked threatening at the crease and was eyeing his maiden Test hundred. However, the 27-year-old fell six runs short of the milestone as he fell prey to a contentious call by the third umpire.

Seeing the sixth wicket partnership getting dangerous, captain Ben Stokes brought Mark Wood into the attack and started the short ball ploy to bring Pakistan batters under pressure. The plan worked as England finally broke the partnership as Wood dismissed Nawaz on the stroke of lunch.

Two overs later England caught the big fish as Shakeel gloved a ball down the leg-side to wicketkeeper Ollie Pope. The catch looked a bit suspicious hence the on-field umpires decided to go to the third umpire by giving the soft signal as out. On the replay it looked as if Pope had grounded the ball, however, the footage was inconclusive.

"Looks like the gloves are under it, but I can't tell exactly," Wilson said. As a result, third umpire Joel Wilson ruled the decision in England’s favour and Shakeel departed for 94.

Saud Shakeel looked distraught as he was dismissed for 94, 6 short of a well-deserved hundred. At lunch, Pakistan were 291/7 still requiring 64 runs to win.

Watch the dismissal here:

The ball that ended Saud Shakeel's fantastic innings. #PAKvENG | #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/kssvis9RdH

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 12, 2022

England won the second Test by 26 runs

After lunch, debutant Abrar Ahmed came out all guns blazing and swung his bat around to score some quick boundaries. He smashed Mark Wood for three fours in the second over after lunch and gave England a mighty scare.

However, his cameo didn’t last long as he was dismissed for 17 off 12 trying to smash James Anderson over covers. England clawed their way back into the game with two quick wickets as Pakistan were staring down the barrel with 36 runs required for victory with just one wicket in hand. Ollie Robinson got the final wicket as England won the second Test and sealed the series 2-0 with one game still to play.