Pakistan await their date with mediocrity as familiar tale unfolds in Multan

Like an aeroplane taking off or a group of suspiciously adult-looking teenagers getting on a roller-coaster in a Final Destination film, you know where this is going. Pakistan are about to take on a similarly innocuous task when, having had their fill, England finally turn it back over to them at some point tomorrow. They have to see off one of England's weakest bowling attacks on one of their most placid surfaces.

But, unlike this Test match, let's get to the point: Pakistan have found a way to take conditions out of the equation when contriving to collapse in the third innings. No side has a lower average third-innings score this year, and Pakistan's tell the story of their year; 115, 172 and 146. Sydney, Rawalpindi, Rawalpindi. Played three, lost three.

Josh Hazlewood blew them away in Sydney as Pakistan frittered away a narrow lead. That may have hardly have been surprising, but Bangladesh used Pakistan's susceptibility at that stage of an game as a template to carve a path to victory. The danger of preparing a flat wicket to bat first on is that side is often the only one who can possibly lose as the match approaches its dénouement. It's a vulnerable position to get to, and, like a film from that aforementioned series, every situation suddenly appears laced with danger.

The denunciations of the surface have already begun, but Pakistan would do well not get caught up in them. When Naseem Shah - the pick of Pakistan's bowlers without reward today - vented his frustrations about the lack of fast-bowling assistance from the pitch during the first Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, it was difficult to take issue with anything he said. But Pakistan followed up by collapsing in a heap two sessions later and handed Bangladesh a ten-wicket win. Turns out you don't need much help from the surface for wickets if you're dancing down the ground having failed to make contact, or skying straight deliveries into the air.

With two days to go, England are 64 runs behind with seven wickets still in hand, one of which involves an unbeaten 243-run partnership. They will soon leave Pakistan's 556 in the rearview mirror in the heat and dust of Multan; Joe Root has already overtaken Alastair Cook, and with his fourth hundred in as many matches in Pakistan, Harry Brook has gone past Imran Khan. Having found a way to force 10 wickets out of an at-least-equally moribund Rawalpindi surface in just over a day in 2022, they will have nearly twice as much time in Multan this week. The potential to exploit any demons that may have begun to appear, either on this sun-baked surface or within Pakistani batters' minds, is ripe.

"We're still about 60 runs in front," Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie said at the close of play. "We suspect England's approach will be to bat and try to get a lead before having a crack at us. That seems to be their game-plan. However, we can't control how they play; we can only focus on our own performance."

Knowledge of England's game-plan, though, is not necessarily a hedge against its prevention. Pakistan have known they're on a nearly four-year winless Test home streak, after all, but they're no sooner to ending it.

Salman Ali Agha said yesterday he was confident the cracks would "open up wide" on the final two days. Jack Leach - who was part of the side that manufactured that remarkable Pindi win in 2022 - and Shoaib Bashir may be interested to know that. Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique's return to form is only an innings old, and Babar Azam's quest continues. And while Masood has repeatedly pointed to the winning positions Pakistan have reached in his time as captain, Pakistan need to take similar responsibility for the fact that, on every single occasion that has happened, they have dismounted those positions of advantage into the abyss of defeat.

Once more, the hosts find themselves in a situation where the bore draw that snaps their losing run - the bare minimum Pakistan's supporters should expect given the conditions and the opposition's bowling quality - can only be achieved with the sort of grit they have failed to muster in any of the three Tests they have played so far this year.

As the Final Destination series will confirm, even mediocrity can be a difficult bar to clear.