Rehman restricts England's lead to 42

England began the series fretting about the mysterious spin bowling of Saeed Ajmal but they are ending it baffled by Abdur Rehman, who is about as conventional as it is possible to be. Rehman took five wickets for the second successive innings as Pakistan restricted England's first-innings lead to 42 runs.

Scorecard

Rehman, a canny left-arm spinner enjoying unforeseen riches in his late-blooming career, had performed the sajda on the outfield in Abu Dhabi when he took five Test wickets in an innings for the first time and once again he fell to his knees, this time in Dubai, as he finished with 5 for 40 to bring a swift end to England's first innings.

Not much had changed after a night's sleep. It took Pakistan 12 overs to remove England's last four wickets. They won in Abu Dhabi after trailing by 70 runs. This time the deficit is smaller.

England, resuming on 104 for 6, lost a wicket to the last ball of the first over. James Anderson, the night-watchman, propped forward and Rehman turned one through the gate to bowl him. It was the sort of respectable, turning delivery he has produced on countless occasions and suddenly it looked unplayable.

Stuart Broad hinted at positive intent but he was lbw to Ajmal after Pakistan turned to DRS to overturn Steve Davis' not out decision. That took the lbws in this three-Test series, already a record, to 36 and there will doubtless be more to come. On this pitch, where the ball tends to skid on, not many deliveries are shown to be bouncing over the stumps.

Broad was straight back to the laptop, analysing his dismissal, seeking answers. Another centimetre and he would have been outside the line. Umpires would never give anybody out on such small margins; technology does. Or at least it does until the guidelines are subtly shifted.

Andrew Strauss' resistance ended at eight-down, to his most adventurous shot. He had extended his overnight 41 to 56 when he came down the pitch to hit Abdur Rehman over the legside and was stumped by Adnan Akmal. It was prolonged reconnaissance for the England captain, 150 balls in all. Graeme Swann swung, was caught in the deep and that was that, another England innings perishing in no time.

There is nothing dreary anymore about Test cricket in Asia. Gone are the days of batting inertia with batsmen relying on little more than a thrust forward and a big front pad. Batsmen have to think on their feet and the game is decidedly more interesting as a result.

Claims that DRS has become a blight on the game are excessive, a convenient stance for the technophobes. If there is an imbalance, all the ICC has to do is shift the parameters slightly. A batsman need not be judged to be in line if just a sliver of the ball touches the virtual carpet running down the width of the stumps. Neither need any batsman be adjudged lbw, as Kevin Pietersen was on the first day, if Hawk-Eye shows that the ball would have clipped the stumps by 2mm. It is barely enough to knock the bails off.