Ruthless Pakistan on verge of glory

Kamran Akmal continued his assault on England's bowlers, finishing with 154 © AFP

Two months ago, few but the most optimistic Pakistanis could have envisaged a day such as today. Pakistan had, in theory sealed the series yesterday, through Mohammad Yousuf and Kamran Akmal's stand. But to drive home the point so brutally this morning was the sort of psychological ploy - a non-verbal mental disintegration - that would have pleased most.

Nearly 200 runs were bashed in 28.4 manic overs; Yousuf, Akmal, Inzamam-ul-Haq and even Rana Naved-ul-Hasan treated three-fifths of the attack that had toppled the Australians with such little care, it could conceivably have been a 20-over tape ball galli slogathon. And when Shoaib Akhtar trapped Marcus Trescothick just before lunch - again in the first over of the innings - Pakistan were doing a passable impersonation of the Australian and West Indian sides that so demoralised England over the last two decades.

Numerous records fell too, emphasising the extent of their domination. The three batsmen, Inzamam apart, all made their highest scores. Yesterday, even Shoaib Akhtar achieved his personal best. The sixth wicket stand between Akmal and Yousuf - 269 all told - was their highest for that wicket against any country and their eventual total, when Inzamam ended the misery for England, was their highest against this opposition in Pakistan. Had Inzamam not been run out, he would have emulated Mudassar Nazar as the only Pakistani to score three Test hundreds in successive innings. However, it wasn't so much the runs, the statistics or even the records but the context in which they were made that added sheen to their achievements.

England's summer trumping of Australia wasn't their sole glittering achievement; they had come here on the back of at least two years of unparalleled and sustained success and five years since they began their ascent, in this very country. They acknowledged this would be a tough series but still they remained favourites. Yet here, by the end of the series, they looked battered, beaten and bruised. How much of it is because of the mental siege and overbearing security that Duncan Fletcher claimed has shackled his team on this tour can only be cynically guessed at, but it shouldn't take anything away from the way Pakistan have imposed themselves since the last day at Multan.

Given the flatness that has embraced this pitch over four days, it isn't entirely out of the question that England bat out a draw tomorrow. In which case, the morning session acts as Pakistan's most emphatic culmination of domination in a series they first clung to, then gained an unlikely win and in which they have since bossed for vast swathes.

As it has been over the last year, since the Australian tour, Pakistan has relied on collective will rather than individual skill. The trait was most apparent when Pakistan played without Shoaib and while his rehabilitation into the side has added bite to the attack, vitally, it hasn't come at the cost of that will. Although Shoaib looked the only bowler with the ability to make this Lahore pitch irrelevant today - and finally getting a wicket with his slower ball was a cute addendum to his previously failed efforts - Pakistan have been able to call upon three other bowlers who have made decisive contributions to the series. They might do so tomorrow as well. Meanwhile, the multiple successes of their batsmen this morning was mirrored by the runs at least four of the top seven batsmen have made through this series.

History shows us that the best teams from any era, from any country, have eventually grown a ruthlessness of spirit, an ability to trample opposition while they are down. In Faisalabad, Pakistan showed they are still unused to the winning feeling and that inability to press home decisively might still surface again tomorrow. But that is a minor and by no means irreparable gripe; for now Pakistan's first series victory in two years - and that too over this England side - must be properly acknowledged. And from tomorrow, it will be properly celebrated.