Karachi, Dec 17 (AP) Azhar Ali fell for 45 in his farewell test match as Pakistan reached 117-3 on the first day of the third and final test against England on Saturday.

Azhar, who announced his retirement from test cricket on Friday, was caught down the legside in Ollie Robinson's last over before lunch as wicketkeeper Ben Foakes held onto a low catch.

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England, which already leads the three-match series 2-0, continued to experiment with its unconventional style of play in test matches after Pakistan captain Babar Azam won his first toss of the series and elected to bat.

Babar (30 not out) shared a 71-run stand with Azhar before Robinson broke the threatening stand just before the first session with a short delivery.

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England surprised Pakistan from the onset when leftarm spinner Jack Leach bowled an 11-over spell with the new ball on yet another dry wicket. Leach featured in dismissals of both openers before Azhar and Babar showed plenty of aggression against England's youngest test debutant Rehan Ahmed.

Ahmed, making his debut at the age of 18 years, 126 days, had a nervy start and bowled plenty of full toss deliveries in his five overs before lunch to end up with 0-37.

Lefthanded Shan Masood -- one of the four changes Pakistan made from the last test – scored a brisk 30 off 37 balls before he top-edged Mark Wood to fine leg midway into the first session.

Masood, replacing injured Imam-ul-Haq up in the order, showed early aggression when he hit Leach for two successive boundaries to the on-side in the left-armer's first over before Leach took a smart catch in the deep.

Leach had earlier struck in his second over when he had Abdullah Shafique trapped leg before wicket for 8 in his third over with a new ball that skidded off the wicket and hit the batter on the front pad.

Ahmed became the youngest England test player at the age of 18 years, 126 days after England rested James Anderson and also brought in Foakes in places of Will Jacks.

Ahmed is 23 days younger than Brian Close, who previously held the long-standing record of the youngest England test player when Close made his test debut against New Zealand at Manchester in 1949 at the age of 18 years, 149 days.

Pakistan made four changes from the team which lost at Multan by 26 runs inside four days. Azhar returned for his final test appearance after being left out of the second test due to poor form. Azhar, playing in his 97th test, replaced allrounder Mohammad Nawaz.

Leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood, who took 12 wickets in two test matches, was dropped and left-arm spinner Nauman Ali made his first appearance of the series.

Pakistan, already without its key fast bowlers for the series because of injuries, awarded a test debut to Mohammad Wasim. The 21-year-old right-arm fast bowler replaced seamer Mohammad Ali.

Pakistan also lost the first test by 74 runs at Rawalpindi as England chases a 3-0 sweep in its first test tour to Pakistan in 17 years. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)