Mohammed Abbas is never about pace. Mohammed Abbas is not about that weird angle too. Mohammed Abbas is actually about the hostility of different kinds. When things get conjured up and life gets tougher with all complexities, you need Abbas to bring the magic. Under the gloomy Manchester sky, Abbas swore by his skill and penetrated the English batting attack with surgical precision. It was pace bowling at its purest form - something world cricket seems to have forgotten after their fascination for the likes of Jofra Archer, Pat Cummins and more recently, Naseem Shah. The special fact is even on a day he didn’t pick a single wicket, he was one of the stand-out performers for the visitors.

According to CricViz, Abbas is the most accurate seamer in the world and has bowled a higher proportion of his deliveries on a good line and length than any pace bowler to have bowled 600+ deliveries since 2006. To the naked eye, this was visible too and the subtle art of Abbas’ bowling meant England had their tails up right from the beginning. After the wicket had undergone its fair share of deterioration on Day 3, Abbas started extracting reverse while his seam movement made things tricky for English batsmen. England failed to replicate their tactics against Kemar Roach in the first two Tests, playing with a forward stride. Abbas operated within the stump line, leaving the corridor of uncertainty in a lonely daze. It meant a mistake was always around the corner and Yasir Shah found that next to his bowling tally. It would be really unfair if the leggie doesn’t treat Abbas with a heavy dinner at Hilton tonight.

19 wickets on the last trip to England was Yasir Shah’s best England tour yet, but when Pakistan drew the series, he had his fingerprints everywhere, with 15 wickets for 272 runs at Lord's and The Oval at an average of 18.13. At Old Trafford and Edgbaston, he averaged 125 with the ball and if anything the 2020 series came as a redemption of sorts for Yasir to own Old Trafford too. What he eventually managed to do here was the fulcrum on England’s path to hell with the leg-spinner channelling his inner Shane Warne to dismantle this English side.

Never in recent times, England have found themselves in such a situation that almost every pacer is fit and raring to go. It came to such a situation that Chris Silverwood, during the Windies series, had indicated that they would turn their pace attack to ensure no one plays more than two matches in a series. However, that thought has gone for a toss with almost everyone in the side playing their third matches of the summer, with Wood, Robinson and Curran being sidelined after limited opportunities. However, what has been a bigger concern though is Anderson’s bowling performance for the Lancashire bowler, who bowled all his life at the Emirates Old Trafford, struggled the most among all English bowlers.