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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