STUMPS on Day 1! Pakistan have ended the opening day of first Test vs England at 328/4. Babar Azam's dismissal in the penultimate over of the day must have left the hosts disappointed. Even then, this day has belonged to Pakistan and their much-criticised skipper Shan Masood. He smacked 151 runs at a quick pace and was well supported by Abdullah Shafique who scored 102 runs. With Saud Shakeel in the middle and Rizwan to come, Pakistan will be eyeing to post more than 500 runs in the first innings
Babar Azam's poor run in Test cricket continues. He looked good for his 30 but has been dismissed by Chris Woakes lbw to leave Pakistan at 324/4. England will be delighted with this wicket at the fag end of the day. Can the visitors dismiss nightwatchman Naseem now?
Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel have added 50 runs together for the fourth wicket. Another partnership is building up and England would love to break it before stumps.
Pakistan have reached 300 runs in the 75th over of the innings. They have maintained a brilliant run-rate today thanks to Shan Masood's second-fastest century for Pakistan in Tests. Babar and Shakeel have done well to hang around so far. Can they remained unbeaten till stumps?
Babar Azam has looked in decent touch so far while Saud Shakeel has always been in good form in Tests. The two have added more than 20 runs so far after losing both centurions in quick succession. Pakistan would love to see them bat by stumps today.
Shan Masood has been dismissed for 151 and England are back in this Test match. Pakistan are 267/3 and Jack Leach has struck for the visitors.
Pakistan star Babar Azam is out in the middle now. The focus is on him especially after he resigned as Pakistan's captain in white-ball formats.
Finally!! England have managed to break the partnership. Abdullah Shafique is gone for 102 runs and is dismissed by Gus Atkinson.
Another watershed moment of the first Test vs England for Pakistan. Abdullah Shafique has completed his 5th Test ton and has done it with a six over long-on off Jack Leach. An excellent innings and he would be keen to go big as well.
Third and final session of the day has started and Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique will be looking to pile on the runs now. Pakistan are closing in on 250. Can England break this partnership?
A wicketless session for England. Pakistan have ended the second session at 233/1 after 52 overs with Masood going strong at 130 and Shafique unbeaten at 94. The visitors have tried everything but they haven't been able to break this partnership. Will they be able to pick up a wicket in the final session or will Masood-Shafique duo continue to pile on the runs?
Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique have completed a 200-run partnership. A fantastic turn around so far for Pakistan as they are batting really well after winning the toss. Masood has already got to his century while Shafique is looking good to get there. Pakistan are really looking to pile on a lot of runs on Day 1.
Pakistan are coasting along rather nicely as England's young bowling attack (barring Woakes) has proven to be toothless. Pakistan have crossed 200, skipper Shan Masood has already gotten to his century and Abdullah Shafique is slowly closing in on his.
Shan Masood has notched up his first century as Pakistan Test captain as he and Abdullah Shafique are slowly taking their team to a position of ascendancy. This is Masood's first Test hundred in four years as England are slowly looking clueless.
England are missing their skipper Ben Stokes here. Ollie Pope has found wanting so far with his field placements. It seems England weren't expecting Pakistan to score runs at almost 5 an over. Masood has done really well to lead from the front but Pakistan will have to make sure that they keep the momentum going and don't lose the advantage.
Shan Masood has led the way for Pakistan so far and 150 is up for the home team. Masood is batting on 84 while Abdullah has scored 58 runs. England are desperate for a breakthrough
This partnership has been solid for Pakistan. Ever since Shan Masood took charge, England bowlers have been on the back foot and Abdullah Shafique has gotten to his fifty. The partnership between Masood and Shafique is also 100 now.
Captain Shan Masood is leading the charge as he has smashed a quickfire half-century and Pakistan have crossed 100. Masood has become the first Pakistan captain to score a 50 at a 100-plus strike rate against England in Test matches.
Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique have done well to keep Pakistan unscathed after the loss of Saim Ayub's wicket. The duo has brought up a fifty-run partnership in no time and Pakistan would hope that both can bat for long.
Debutant Brydon Carse almost had a wicket until he didn't. The umpire gave it out as Carse trapped Masood in front but the Pakistan captain thought that it might go down the leg. He went for the review and it was pitching outside the leg and survived. Carse will have to wait for his first Test wicket.
0, 0, 5, 3, 7, 0 and 8 - the partnerships for Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique in the last seven innings. Ayub was coming off from good form in the Bangladesh series but has gotten out early today while Shafique has been solid thus far.
Gus Atkinson strikes and Saim Ayub has been dismissed. Once again, Pakistan have lost an early wicket and the pressure is on them now. Shan Masood has come out to bat next.
Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique will aim to give a good start to the Pakistan innings as the hosts will aim for a big first innings total, especially if the pitch remains flat for all five days.
A green grassy cover on what seems like a dry surface underneath reckons Bazid Khan on air. The last Test played on this wicket was PAK vs ENG match in 2022 where Abrar Ahmed picked 11 wickets. The green tinge might assist the seamers in the first hour or the first session but Khan reckoned that the wicket will turn later and should provide for good five days of Test cricket.
Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
Playing XI: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood(c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed
Pakistan have won the toss and elected to bat first on the hot first morning of the first Test against England. Shan Masood, the Pakistan captain, at the toss, said that they asked for a good cricket wicket and hoped that the team could get a good start. Ollie Pope, the England captain also wanted to bat first saying that it is the hottest he has played in as far as the conditions were concerned while hoping to utilise the moisture and green nature of the surface.
England have a completely different bowling attack from the last time they played in Pakistan and since they are missing regular skipper Ben Stokes as well, they have gone in with five bowling options and a debut to Brydon Carse, who was excellent in white-ball series against Australia and has done well for Durham with the red-ball.
It's been more than a month since their series defeat to Bangladesh, Pakistan have all their pacers fit and fresh and would want to strike early against England, who are a bit dodgy, underprepared and without their regular skipper Ben Stokes. This is the best line-up Pakistan could have chosen and it's now time for them to produce the results.
It seems like England just never stopped playing cricket. Before their Sri Lanka series ended, the white-ball assignment against Australia was already underway, a week later, they are now in Pakistan - from four degrees to 41 degrees - playing Test cricket in the sub-continent. Welcome to our live coverage of the first Test of the three-match series as Pakistan look to exploit England's undercooked preparation in Multan.
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