Pakistan mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed picked up seven wickets on his Test debut against England

England bowled out for 281 in their first innings after electing to bat first. Ben Duckett (63) and Ollie Pope (60) scored half-centuries for the visitors

Abrar claimed the England opener Zak Crawley clean bowled off his fifth ball and successfully went on to pick another six wickets.

Ahmed’s variations challenged England’s aggression on a bowling-friendly wicket. At one point Ahmed had all the seven wickets until Zahid Mahmood break the streak with his three for.

By the lunch break, Abrar already picked up five wickets. In a video posted by PCB the Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah, who missed the match due to injury and Mohammad Wasim junior hailed Abrar for his remarkable debut. “Phli baat toh ye hai ki phla match khelna and phle hi match mey aa kar itne confidence se bowling karna. (Bowling with such a confidence in your first Test match is superb). Test match ka apna ek apna hi pressure hota hai lekin jis tarah usne jabardast kism se achi line and length pe bowl ki hai (Test match has its own pressure but he handled it beautifully, and bowled in the right line and lengths) ….. He bowled amazing,” says Naseem.

Meanwhile, Wasim jr has predicted that Abrar will pick eight wickets in the innings. He said: “Ibrar ko aaj subah se kam se kam 8 baar congratulate Kiya ki inshaallah aaj aapne 8 out karne hai (I have congratulated Abrar eight times, since the morning and I told him by the grace of god he will bag eight wickets). Paanch out ho gaye hai teen rah gaye hai wo bhi out ho jayenge (He has bagged five wickets, three more to go).”

Abrar dismissed Zack Crawley, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook only to become the first Pakistan bowler to pick up five wickets in the first session on his Test debut.

England is 1-0 up in the three-test series. They won the opening match in Rawalpindi by 74 runs, and are on their first test tour of Pakistan since 2005.