Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took some hard decisions going into the second Test of the three-match ongoing series against England at the Multan Cricket Stadium. The selectors dropped three of their veteran players from the side in the form of Babar Azam, the former captain, and the two veteran pacers, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah.
Many former players didn’t decide on a positive note. Many of them bashed them even before the start of the game, as pressure was so much on Pakistan captain Shan Masood and new head coach Jason Gillespie to turn the table. On the flip of the coin, they made some juicy changes to the condition of the pitch.
In the first Test of the series, England drilled over 800 runs in their lone innings without getting bundled out, which drove the home side to dry up the same track and play on it to use their spinners. They brought Sajid Khan and Noman Ali back into the squad and handed a debut to Kamran Ghulam, who was so consistent in the domestic structure.
Babar Azam congratulated spirited Pakistan after ending an 11-match winless streak
Winning the toss, the home side decided to bat first on a day six track. Two early wickets meant the Green Brigade felt the heat of Multan more on them before the 149-run stand for the third wicket between Ghulam and opener Saim Ayub rescued them. The latter missed out on his century, but the debutant showed his resilience.
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He creamed a 118-run knock in 224 balls, with the help of 11 boundaries and one six, before some contributions from the lower order of the batting department helped the Pakistan side to finish with 366 runs on the board in the first innings.
In reply, England had a great start in their first innings with the bat, as opener Ben Duckett was nailing every delivery with the sweep shot. He made 114 runs in just 129 deliveries, with the help of 16 boundaries at a strike rate of 90. They were in the game, having found them at 211/2 before one delivery from Sajid spun so much to disturb the stumps of Ollie Pope.
Pakistan smelt the blood and hunted the visiting side, who were bundled out for just 291 in their first innings, losing their last eight wickets for just 80 runs on the board. The off-spinner celebrated a great spell of 7/111 in the innings.
The pitch had already started to show its true color, and the way some of the deliveries were spinning, anything over 200 was expected to make it difficult for the visiting side. At 156/8, England could have shown a little bit of urgency with their planning but, Agha Salman stood in the middle for his 63 runs, shouldering on five boundaries and one six. Pakistan finished on 221 in their second innings.
The chase was always expected to get tough as the Ben Stokes-led side were bundled out for 144 in their second innings, losing the game by 152 runs. The former captain, Babar Azam, congratulated Pakistan for showing the fighting spirit.
“Well done, team! Fantastic win. Proud of the effort and spirit.” Babar wrote on his ‘X’ account (formerly known as Twitter).
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“The first one is always special, it has come after some hard times. A lot has happened over the last week. For everyone to work together, to come up with a strategy to pick 20 wickets and make it happen, that’s the most satisfying thing.” Masood expressed at the end of the Test.
The third game will take place in Rawalpindi from October 24.