Pak vs Eng: Shan Leads as Pakistan on Opening Day of First Test

On the opening day of the first Pakistan vs England Test, the home team recovered and reached 328/4 till Monday at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Century by skipper Shan Masood on day one of the game was in the full rhythm for Pakistan’s comeback from the front.

After the side had won the toss and decided to bat first, it got quite an early shock when the opening batter, Saim Ayub, was caught behind the wicket, thus becoming a victim of Gus Atkinson when an estimated four runs had been scored. However, the 114-run second-wicket stand between Masood and opener Abdullah Shafique steered the national side to 122-1 at lunch.

While the game wrapped up at 328/4, Saud Shakeel went to 35* with Naseem Shah at 0* on the crease. The first of the three-match series is being played at Multan Cricket Stadium and forms part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25.

Masood was given lbw during the match today to a delivery by Brydon Carse in the second over of the debutant seamer, but the batter reviewed the decision to get it overturned with replays confirming the ball pitched outside the leg stump.

Masood went on to take two runs off Atkinson to race to a 43-ball fifty. Shafique got a reprieve on 35 when he went for a riskive single and England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope’s direct throw just missed the stumps.

The on-field umpire, after missing it, threw away the stumps, but the stand-in captain didn’t give up as he sent Shafique to the pavilion at 59.5 over after scoring 102 runs of 184 balls laced with 10 boundaries and two towering sixes. Yet players like Saim Ayub couldn’t do much for the team and ended up making four runs only.

Further, the star of the day, Masood, was caught at 62.3 overs by Jack Leach, having contributed the most runs with 151 runs off 177 balls, with 13 shots towards the boundary and two sixes. Babar Azam planned for a half century but was able to make runs less than 40.

The former white-ball captain made 30 off 71 after five fours, directing towards the pavilion at 84.3 overs after Chris Woakes dismissed the player through a lbw.

Bowling first, one each from Woakes and Leach, two wickets from Atkinson.

Pakistan will resume their first innings on the second day from where they finished off on Monday. It is to be noted that England are being led by the young Ollie Pope in the first Test after the visitors’ captain Ben Stokes was ruled out of the contest due to a hamstring injury in the Hundred League.

Also, James Anderson will not come for this Pakistan tour because he is going to form the majority in Scotland’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The last time England visited Pakistan for a red-ball series was in 2022, when they gave the national side a 3-0 defeat. That fact makes the 3-0 win even more astonishing, especially after the visitors had played 24 Tests in Pakistan, winning just two of them.

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