India, Sept. 21 -- Pakistan returned from England with almost nothing to celebrate. A 3-0 whitewash had exposed familiar weaknesses, the batting had repeatedly buckled under pressure, and the final Test at Edgbaston had seemed destined to end in another emphatic defeat.

Then Razaullah Mashwani appeared from the margins of the squad and briefly altered the mood. The 21-year-old bowled with genuine pace on debut before producing an extraordinary second-innings counter-attack, smashing 81 from 63 balls and adding 121 for the ninth wicket with Mohammad Abbas as Pakistan overturned a 320-run first-innings deficit.

The innings did not rescue the Test, and it certainly did not rescue the tour. England still won by eight wickets to complete the...