PAK vs ENG, 2nd Test: The English cricket team led by Ben Stokes are taking on Pakistan in Multan and they certainly will look to seal the series. This is England's first overseas assignment under head coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes and they have fared pretty decently. Courtesy of their famous victory in Rawalpindi last week, England are 1-0 up in the series. Pakistan on the other hand, plagued by Haris Rauf's injury have taken the field and they are fighting to keep themselves and the series alive.
Following their trend, as executed in the first Test match, Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat first. They were extremely dominant with the bat in the first match, but come to Multan, things changed pretty drastically for them. England are in all sorts of trouble and their 'go for the kill' approach isn't working for them at all. Pakistan have roped in debutant Abrar Ahmed and oh boy, hasn't he been fantastic. In his first match for Pakistan, Abrar has claimed the prized scalps of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, and Harry Brook. England were rampant in the first Test courtesy of Crawley, Duckett, Pope, and Brook's century, but in the second match, Abrar restrained them and caught England off guard.
With his five-wicket haul on his Test debut, Abrar has now become the 13th Pakistan bowler to achieve this feat. Multan is hosting a Test match after a gap of 16 years and Abrar has made it one occasion to remember. Amid all the criticism that the Rawalpindi pitch faced, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam gave a pretty brief inside about the Multan turf. Babar said that he was expecting the ball to turn and it did. As of now, Abrar has taken 5 wickets, and considering how the pitch in Multan is, we might be in for some more spin magic.
Pakistan XI: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Ali, Abrar Ahmed
England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (wk), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Will Jacks, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, Mark Wood, James Anderson