Has Pakistan's collapse in Abu Dhabi become remotely repetitive?

Unfortunately for Alastair Cook, his side fell agonisingly short of an unlikely win

Adil Rashid almost gave Pakistan a scare as an ignominious collapse saw them getting bundled out for 173 after being 158-5 at one point. Luckily for Misbah and co, bad light intervened at the right time to prevent Ian Bell and Joe Root from coasting England to a victory.

The match looked in balance and headed for a draw before Rashid, of all people, the debutant with worst bowling figures in the first innings turned on the music with Moeen Ali and James Anderson and wrapped up the Pakistani tail in a blink of an eye. Barring Younis Khan and Misbah-Ul-Haq, nobody put up a fight from Pakistan, as an outcome giving England an opening to scrape to an unlikely victory.

History seemed to repeat itself for Pakistan, who endured a similar drastic collapse a year ago in Galle, when after scoring 450-plus in the first innings, they eventually ended up on the losing side by seven wickets.

An insight into the scorecard would suggest Sri Lanka ended up taking 82-run lead in the first innings on the fourth day of the Test match. Things looked in place for a draw before Pakistan was rattled out for a meagre 180 with Rangana Herath, very much like Rashid picking up 6 for 48, a match-winning figure, as it turned out.

Unfortunately for Pakistan, that time around bad light did not interfere; Quite ironically, just like England, Sri Lanka needed 99 from the last 21 overs and Mathews and Vithanage saw them home.

This time, however, Pakistan showed some maturity in deploying negative tactics to evade an embarrassment; Once stage it seemed Moeen Ali and Joe Root would see England off but time and light, both went firmly against England, as they agonisingly fell 25 runs short of an unlikely win. But for Pakistan, it was in all sense a hugh let-off.

However for Misbah and co, there would still be plenty of positives in place despite being at the receiving end of the scarce. Record suggests they have lost only one Test series since 2013, and that was against Sri Lanka by 2-0.

In the last four Test series in United Arab Emirates, they have remained unbeaten, losing only twice out of nine outings, the latest one against New Zealand. They would certainly take this draw as a moral victory which might just turn out to be the instigating moment that allows them to win the series.

Considering the coaches they have in the ranks, including Waqar Younis and Grant Flower, they would definitely look to come out strong in the next match.

As for England, it would definitely be heart-breaking not to have won this encounter after being so tantalisingly close. Going by stats, in 2013 South Africa produced a miraculous turn-around after heavily losing the opening encounter in Abu Dhabi.

Imran Tahir was the man for South Africa who spurned that very turn-around, rattling Pakistan for a meagre 99 and paved the way for the South African victory. The last affair in Dubai incidentally coincided with Phil Hughes tragic death, and saw Pakistan, after winning the first encounter against the Kiwis, holding onto a draw, before the kiwis finally launched their A-game in Sharjah to level the series.

It would definitely be a fascinating series with many twists and turns in prospect. Both teams would again be coming out strong but as for Pakistan they need to be very wary of this English side, which looks far different and more competent than the England side that was thumped 3-0 in 2011/2012 UAE tour.