MULTAN: Abdullah Shafique and skipper Shan Masood were leading the charge against England the first test match in Multan. The hosts currently stand at 122 for one.
Shan Masood, was the first to make a fifty on Monday, scoring 61 runs off 59 balls before the two sides broke for lunch.
The skipper brought a sense of stability back to the side following Saim Ayoub was caught out by the wicket keeper in the 4th over. Gus Atkinson was able to get a wicket in only his 10th delivery. Ayoub was not able to get much behind his strike, allowing wicketkeeper Jamie Smith to take an easy catch.
Shan Masood was able to hit seven fours, hitting a pair of boundaries back-to-back in the 16th over, and two more shortly following in the eighteenth.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first against England in the 1st test match in Multan.
Pakistan skipper Shan Masood said that they wanted to change things and to get back on track. He said, “We are looking to do so with this group of players.” English captain Ollie Pope said he would have batted, of course. He added that the conditions are maybe the hottest that he has played in. He said that there is a little bit of moisture in the pitch so they are hoping to make the most of it first.
Pakistan XI:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (capt), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad
England XI:
England: Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope (capt), Chris Woakes, Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
