Manchester, Aug 8 (UNI) Riding on counter attacking fifties from Chris Woakes (84 not out off 120 ) and Jos Buttler (75 off 101 balls) , England beat Pakistan by three wickets in the thrilling opening Test, taking 1-0 series lead in three match series, here at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Chasing a target of 277 for victory, the hosts slumped from 86 for 1 to 117 for 5 as some superb bowling gave Pakistan an upper hand in the 2nd session.
However, the duo of Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler decided to counter attack and stitched a 139-run partnership for the 6th-wicket partnership and led England to a historic fourth-innings chase in Manchester.
The sixth-wicket partnership was finally broken by Yasir Shah when England were just 21 runs away from the target.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan resumed the day on 137-8, with a lead of 244 and managed to add 32 runs to their overnight total, thanks to Yasir Shah's 33-run cameo, which came off just 24 balls.
Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer took the final two wickets to bowl Pakistan out for 169 in their second innings.
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