PAK vs ENG: Pakistan resume innings at 328/4 as second day of first Test begins
In the first Test match against England, Pakistan resumed their innings on Tuesday with Saud Shakeel and Naseem Shah at the crease.
Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat on Monday but faced an early setback when opener Saim Ayub was caught behind after scoring just four runs, bowled out by Gus Atkinson.
However, Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique led a strong comeback with a 114-run partnership, guiding Pakistan to 122-1 at lunch.
By the end of the day, Pakistan was 328/4, with Shakeel on 35 and Shah yet to score.
This match, being played at the Multan Cricket Stadium, is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 and the first of a three-match series.
During Monday’s play, Masood was given out LBW by Brydon Carse but successfully reviewed the decision, with replays showing the ball had pitched outside the leg stump. He went on to hit a 43-ball fifty. Shafique also got a lucky break when a risky single almost cost him his wicket, but England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope narrowly missed with his throw. However, Pope later dismissed Shafique for 102 runs, which included 10 boundaries and two sixes.
Unfortunately, Saim Ayub couldn’t contribute much to the score, getting out for just four runs. Masood, the top scorer of the day, was caught out by Jack Leach after making an impressive 151 off 177 balls, with 13 boundaries and two sixes. Babar Azam aimed for a fifty but was dismissed LBW by Chris Woakes after scoring 30 off 71 balls.
In bowling, Woakes and Leach took one wicket each, while Atkinson claimed two.
England are being led by Ollie Pope as their regular captain, Ben Stokes, is out due to a hamstring injury. England’s star bowler, James Anderson, is also missing the tour as he is playing in Scotland’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The last time England played a Test series in Pakistan, they won 3-0 in 2022. Before that, they had played 24 Tests in Pakistan but had won only two, making the 3-0 win even more remarkable.
Playing XI:
Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.
