ENG vs PAK: The England tour of Pakistan marked the Englishmen’s quest for a handy getaway in the WTC, though their chances to qualify for the finals have been immensely reduced. Pakistan debutant Kamran Ghulam flared up the second test with a debut hundred.
On the other hand, the hosts look to revive their humiliating series sweep against Bangladesh, while the series has again begun on a humiliating note. The home form of Pakistan has been disappointing, as they have never won a single match since 2022.
The first test played at Multan saw a series of records being broken, especially from the end of the Englishmen. Batting first, Pakistan posted a decent total in their first inning, England at the back of Joe Root’s 262 and Harry Brook’s record-breaking 317, which rewrote the record books.
England’s bowlers created a total mess in the second Pakistan inning, as the team that scored 550+ runs in the first inning went on to struggle at a time with 5 down for 50 runs on the board. Despite Salman Ali Agha’s and Jamal’s lower-order stability, they could not avoid the innings loss.
As a result of the first match’s results, the Pakistan Cricket Board and the selectors made some tough calls, the biggest of them being to drop veteran batter Babar Azam and their most successful red ball pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah.
The Pakistan team brought in several new spinners to their side, while they also dropped Abrar Ahmed, their lead spinner, to include the likes of slow left-arm spinner Noman Ali, Zahid Mehmood, the leggie, and lastly, Sajid Khan, the off-spinner.
For England, their injured skipper Ben Stokes made his comeback into the side as England took on the same used track as Multan.
Batting first once again, Pakistan opener Saim Ayub scored a decent 70+ score alongside the debutant Kamran Ghulam, who took Babar Azam’s place in the squad and stunned all with his dominating hundred on debut, as he turned only the 13 batters to have achieved this feat on international test debut.
This severely threatened Babar Azam’s position, as Ghulam took off to a flyer on Day 1 of the first test; however, he got out on a decent 118 at the end of Day 1. England spinners Leach and Bashir shared 3 wickets, while also Potts and Carse picked a wicket each. Pakistan are currently on 259/5, at Stumps on Day 1, with Rizwan and the in-form Salman Ali Agha at the crease.
