England opener Ben Duckett says Pakistan can “crumble” and are under “pressure”, despite the home side ending day two of the second Test in the stronger position in Multan.
Duckett’s 114 led England’s rapid response to Pakistan’s 366, the tourists reaching 211-2.
But off-spinner Sajid Khan utilised the used pitch to take three wickets in an overall collapse of 4-14 that left England 239-6.
“Whatever the state of the game we always believe we can go and win,” Duckett told Test Match Special.
“The first session tomorrow is going to be huge. If we can bat for as much as we can and get close to their total I think we will actually be favourites.”
England earned an unprecedented 3-0 clean sweep in Pakistan two years ago, then pulled off a record-breaking run-filled victory in the opening match of this series last week.
In response, Pakistan made changes to their selection committee, dropped superstar batter Babar Azam and re-used the pitch from the first Test for the second, choosing three frontline spinners in their XI.
“We know that they can crumble and so the pressure is over to them,” Duckett told Sky Sports.
“We’re 1-0 up in the series, won the last series 3-0 and we know they’re going to fight to make it as hard as they can for us. But we always believe we’re in the game.”
