The moment that summed up England’s hopeless cause on the final morning of this second Test came when captain Ben Stokes advanced down the track to Noman Ali, lost his bat at the end of his swing and was stumped.

An empty-handed Stokes, with his bat somewhere behind the square, stood there bemused, his team 125 for seven and still 172 away from an improbable victory target of 297.

England’s miracle maker trudged off having top-scored with 37, with defeat now only a matter of time.

It came not long after, Pakistan snapping their run of 11 home Tests without a win in dominant fashion, with their gamble to play this match on a used pitch paying off handsomely and setting up a series decider in Rawalpindi next week.

There wasn’t much more England, who claimed an innings victory in last week’s first Test, could have done here.

The pitch was always going to favour the team who batted first and Pakistan, forced into desperate measures, reaped the reward for chancing their arm after scoring 366 in the first innings when the pitch was still good to bat on.

From that point, England were always playing catch up and as humbling as this defeat may seem, they will still be favourites to wrap up the series on what is expected to be a typically flat Rawalpindi surface for the final Test that starts on Thursday.

England have been loath to criticise the state of a pitch that may yet receive a sanction from the International Cricket Council.

Its true nature, though, was revealed by the fact that all 20 England wickets to fall were picked up by Noman, a 38-year-old veteran left-arm spinner, and off-spinner Sajid Khan.

Indeed, Noman picked up 11 of them, with a career-best eight for 46, as he helped wrap up the win for his team in just 104 minutes of this final morning.

This was the first time in 52 years just two bowlers had taken all 20 wickets in a Test, Australia’s Bob Massie and Dennis Lillee the last to do it, against England at Lord’s in 1972.

It’s not often this team turn up for the final day of a Test knowing they have little chance of winning.

England’s lowest fourth-innings totals in Asia when being bowled out:

• 72 vs Pakistan, Abu Dhabi, 2012
• 102 vs India, Mumbai, 1981
• 122 vs India, Rajkot, 2024
• 144 vs Pakistan, Multan, 2024
• 156 vs Pakistan, Sharjah, 2015

But that was the case here at the start of a fourth day that saw them resume two wickets down already trying to record their record chase in Asia, previously 209.

Another 261 runs were needed to pull off what would have been the best result yet of the Bazball era.

This is a team that has achieved some extraordinary results under the regime of coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes.

Yet this was something else. A used pitch and a determined Pakistan team for whom just about everything had gone right since winning the toss on the first morning were not going to give up this position of dominance without an almighty fight.

Not with a first home win in 11 Tests on the line.

There’s a reason why most people thought chasing anything more than 200 would have been a tough ask.

Indeed, the highest successful chase by a visiting team in Pakistan was the 220 for eight Sri Lanka pulled off at Rawalpindi in September 2000.

And England had only twice chased more in an overseas Test – 332 against Australia at Melbourne in 1928 and 305 against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1997.

So history as well as conditions were all skewed dramatically against England.

The damage had really been done on the second evening when a collapse of four for 14 in 18 balls as the pitch started to get spiteful ripped the heart out of England’s first innings. It was always going to be a long way back from there, and so it proved.

It took Pakistan just eight balls to strike on this fourth morning, Ollie Pope tentatively driving a simple caught and bowled chance back to Sajid Khan. The exuberant off-spinner celebrated his ninth wicket of the match by dancing like a court jester. England had added one run to their total.

The score had advanced to 55 by the time Joe Root was trapped lbw by Noman in the fifth over of the day, England’s all-time leading run scorer reviewing the decision in vain.

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It brought Stokes to the crease alongside Harry Brook, who came into this innings averaging more than 100 in Pakistan.

Their partnership reached 23 before Brook was also pinned leg before by Noman, the review again not overturning the decision.

Still 219 adrift of their target, England, now 78 for five, were relying on another miracle from Stokes, who had at least started his innings well.

That became 88 for six when Jamie Smith’s terrible Test match concluded with an ugly sweep shot that saw him top-edge left-arm spinner Noman.

Brydon Carse was also given out lbw second ball after an errant sweep to Sajid. This time the review worked in England’s favour, Hawk-Eye showing the ball missing the stumps.

Hope, though, exited Multan following Stokes’ moment of madness. Carse, who had taken the total above 100 with two thumping sixes off Sajid, followed when he edged Noman to slip.

England were 144 for nine and on the cusp of defeat when Noman picked up his seventh wicket of the innings and 10^th of the match, Jack Leach this time jabbing to short leg.

Pakistan wrapped up victory the very next ball, Shoaib Bashir also caught at short leg, as Noman claimed his career-best figures.