Shoaib Bashir has a long way to go but silenced his critics in showing what he can do – Ben Stokes has put full faith in him but will be ruing his side’s dropped catches, writes NASSER HUSSAIN

On a turning pitch in the second innings, it was important that Shoaib Bashir showed what he can do for England – and I thought he definitely did that.

He has had a difficult tour so far in Pakistan, with people saying that Jack Leach should be seen as England’s No 1 spinner again. But Bashir had a good day on Thursday, taking four wickets and showing that he can bowl that attacking line outside the off stump.

Ever since he has been in the England side, I have always thought he has bowled well to left handers. He bowls the ball beautifully with drop. The issue with Bashir that I have constantly talked about is that he bowls too straight to right handers.

England would argue that he’s not played on any turning pitches and, when it does turn, he will bowl outside off. To be fair to Bashir, that is what he did on Thursday. I thought he got his lines pretty much spot on.

His best bowling, though, was again against the left handers. Ben Stokes is one of the best captains of spin we have had and he got the right men in the right places, with all three of Bashir’s wickets against left handers being caught in slip and gully.

Ben Stokes (right) backed up his spinner, who picked up four wickets to set England their chase target

Jack Leach is closer to the finished article and also bowled well as England pressed in Multan

One of the reasons England like Bashir is that the bounce he gets will give them an asset when it is not a huge spinning pitch. But he is still learning his trade. He still has to work on that consistency of length in particular, and at times on Thursday he didn’t quite hit that length.

Bashir is at a different end of his career to Jack Leach, who is closer to the finished article and is more consistent. You know what you are going to get from Leach and, when it does turn, he is always going to be a threat.

I thought Leach was clever in going round the wicket to Saud Shakeel, someone who sweeps a lot. From over the wicket, bowling into the rough, the angles are working completely against you to get the lbw. But coming around the wicket brings lbw into play, which is how he dismissed Shakeel.

The thing with this Pakistan middle order is that they are fabulous players against spin. One of the questions with Leach is that when people come after him, or are sweeping, what is he going to do? Is he going to change his pace or flight, or come around the wicket slightly earlier to the left hander?

We have seen in Australia that the moment Leach comes on, their batters go after him. So both Leach and Bashir have to work on their plans when people are looking to attack. But to get seven wickets between them on Thursday, they bowled pretty well.

I also thought Brydon Carse was magnificent again. Carrying some kind of foot injury, he was absolutely brilliant on this pitch to be able to get out of it what he did.

The key moment came when he was bowling and Jamie Smith and Joe Root dropped Ali Agha in the same over.

I was impressed by Brydon Carse again and did well to get out of the pitch what he could

England will rue the dropped catches, however, with wicketkeeper Jamie Smith (left) at fault for one

I have been waxing lyrical about Smith for eight days because he has kept brilliantly. But that must have been a lapse in concentration because it was about as regulation an edge as you will ever get.

It is like a goalkeeper who has been brilliant for 90 minutes, and then in the last minute, let’s one go through their legs. It is a cruel game.

You very rarely see Stokes show his frustration in a negative way as captain. But it was noticeable how animated he was when those chances went down.

They could have kept the lead down to below 250 but, as it is, England are going to have to bat really well to chase down 297.