England Vs Pakistan: 2nd Test | Day 1: Pakistan vs England, 2nd Test of England tour of Pakistan has been started on Friday, December 09 at Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan. After their thrilling 74-run victory in the first Test, England are on a high and maintained that momentum into this match in Multan, and their efforts on the day reflected this. It was clear by watching the England batters early on that they intended to play aggressively in this game too as like the first test match. When England was batting, it was like watching a T20 game with the red ball.
Unlike the previous Test match, England struggled to manage their aggressive approach from the start. They had a strong start, going 8 overs without losing a wicket and having 38 runs on the board already. However, a debutant superstar named Abrar Ahmed entered the action and took 7 wickets, shattering the core of England’s batting order. Let’s take a brief review of the day 1-
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England Vs Pakistan: 2nd Test | Day 1| Review
England got a decent push with around 5 runs per over from the very beginning of the innings. Babar, the Pakistani captain, gave the ball to newcomer Abrar Ahmed in the ninth over. In his very first over, he clean-bowled Zak Crawley by exploiting the space between bat and pad. That googly was a beauty.
Ben Duckett then took charge and quickly crossed the half-century. Ben Duckett, who was looking threatening, and Pope put together a 79-run partnership. Once again, the debutant took the wicket, this time it was Ben Duckett. Ollie Pope was able to get 50 runs and hit a few boundaries, however, he was brought down by a reverse sweep off an Abrar Ahmed delivery.
Then, the mystery of the newcomer Abrar Ahmed completely astounded the English batsmen. Every single England player was having trouble finding the proper shot. At one point, England were 231 for 7 wickets down, and all seven wickets were in front of Abrar Ahmed‘s name. Despite taking wickets, he was very expensive. He bowled 22 overs, allowing 114 runs in that time.
All the English betters were throwing their bats and Mark Wood showed his class by hitting 8 boundaries and scoring 38 runs. Zahid Mahmood took the next 3 wickets and England were bundled out for 281.
Pakistan’s start was a bit gloomy when they lost Imam-Ul-Haq in the 3rd over. Abdullah Shafique was taken down when Pakistan were at 51 runs. Babar Azam hit a counter-attacking 61 not out as Pakistan reached 107/2 at stumps against England on the opening day of the second Test in Multan. However, Pakistan still trail England by 174 runs, with Saud Shakeel batting on 32, along with Babar.
England Vs Pakistan: 2nd Test | Day 1| Scorecard
England 1st Innings- 281/10
| BATTING | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Zak Crawley | b Abrar Ahmed | 19 | 37 | 3 | 0 | 51.35 |
| Ben Duckett | lbw b Abrar Ahmed | 63 | 49 | 9 | 1 | 128.57 |
| Ollie Pope | c Abdullah Shafique b Abrar Ahmed | 60 | 61 | 5 | 0 | 98.36 |
| Joe Root | lbw b Abrar Ahmed | 8 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 72.72 |
| Harry Brook | c Mohammad Nawaz b Abrar Ahmed | 9 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 42.85 |
| Ben Stokes (c) | b Abrar Ahmed | 30 | 38 | 3 | 1 | 78.94 |
| Will Jacks | lbw b Abrar Ahmed | 31 | 44 | 1 | 2 | 70.45 |
| Ollie Robinson | c Mohammad Nawaz b Zahid Mahmood | 5 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 35.71 |
| Mark Wood | not out | 36 | 27 | 8 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Jack Leach | b Zahid Mahmood | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| James Anderson | b Zahid Mahmood | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 100.00 |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON |
| Faheem Ashraf | 4 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 4.00 |
| Mohammad Ali | 6 | 1 | 29 | 0 | 4.83 |
| Abrar Ahmed | 22 | 1 | 114 | 7 | 5.18 |
| Zahid Mahmood | 7.4 | 0 | 63 | 3 | 8.21 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | 12 | 0 | 46 | 0 | 3.83 |
Pakistan 1st innings- 107/2
| BATTING | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| Abdullah Shafique | c Pope b Leach | 14 | 44 | 3 | 0 | 31.81 |
| Imam-ul-Haq | c Pope b Anderson | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Babar Azam (c) | not out | 61 | 76 | 9 | 1 | 80.26 |
| Saud Shakeel | not out | 32 | 46 | 5 | 0 | 69.56 |
| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON |
| James Anderson | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2.00 |
| Jack Leach | 12 | 3 | 44 | 1 | 3.66 |
| Mark Wood | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 5.00 |
| Joe Root | 6 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 3.50 |
| Will Jacks | 4 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 4.50 |
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