Pakistan have ended Day 1 of 2nd Test at 259/5. A balanced day for both teams but a memorable one for Kamran Ghulam as he slammed a century on his Test debut. With pitch expected to deteriorate, Pakistan will be hoping to post 400 runs in the first innings.
Will England be able to pick one more wicket? Pakistan have crossed the 250-run mark and it has been a decent day of Test cricket for them.
Stokes brings in Shoaib Bashir just four overs into the new ball and the off-spinner strikes. A flighted ball that tempted Ghulam to charge forward. He looked to go over mid-off but missed this one and is bowled. He walks back for 118
England have taken the new ball as soon as it became available. The pacers are back with Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts having the new ball in their hands.
Kamran Ghulam has created history. He has scored a century on debut for Pakistan. He is the first player in Test cricket in 24 years to score a ton while batting at number four.
Pakistan have crossed the 200-run mark!! Around 19 overs more to go. How many more can they score? Will England be able to pick more wickets? Crucial last 90 minutes coming up
Kamran Ghulam is batting on 91 even as Mohammad Rizwan is once again struggling to get off the mark after facing 16 balls. Pakistan are 190/4 at the moment
Saud Shakeel has been dismissed for just 4 runs and England are back in the game. Pakistan are 178/4 now. Kamran Ghulam has to stick around and he is batting on 79
The final session is underway in Multan. Pakistan will be looking to drive home the advantage while England will be keen on building on Ayub's dismissal just before tea.
Second session has ended and Pakistan are 173/3. Saim Ayub's wicket came at the stroke of tea. Kamran, meanwhile, is looking extremely good at 75 on debut.
Ben Stokes' plan has worked. Saim Ayub has chipped one to silly mid-off and has been dismissed on 77.
Brilliant from Kamran and Saim as the duo has taken Pakistan to 150 now. Run-scoring is slow but they have made sure they are not throwing their wicket. Stokes has made the ball move and troubled the batters as well. But he has not been able to break the partnership. Ghulam is on 74 while Ayub is on 64.
Now the debutant has gotten to his half-century. This has been an outstanding fightback from Pakistan and Kamran Ghulam has slowly grown into his innings. The partnership is 100 now and the duo is taking Pakistan to safer shores.
Saim Ayub has crossed his half-century and is looking really solid. Pakistan have crossed 100 and both Ayub and Kamran Ghulam are taking it to the England bowlers as the pitch seems to have settled down a bit.
Massive second session in the context of the game. Looking at the pitch, 300 in the first innings will be a huge score and England would be looking to pick more wickets in the second session. Ghulam and Ayub will be keen on continuing their good work and not throw away the start.
Pakistan have ended the first session at 79/2. Debutant Kamran Ghulam and Saim Ayub have added 60 runs for the third wicket so far. Pakistan were 19/2 at one stage with quick wickets of Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood. But they have recovered well now and Pakistan will be hoping that they continue to bat well.
Saim Ayub and Kamran Ghulam have rescued Pakistan's innings after a couple of early blows. Both have looked to play their shots while respecting good balls as the wicket continues to play its part. Pakistan have crossed 50 and will need this pair to bat for the longest time.
Another one bites the dust and Ben Stokes impression all over that wicket. Stokes had a slip, a leg slip, a short-leg and a short mid-on sort of a position for catching inside the square and Shan Masood played with hard hands against Leach to hand his second wicket. Zak Crawley dived to his right to take a very good catch and Pakistan have lost two wickets.
Pakistan - 20/2 (10 overs)
Jack Leach in his second over has struck gold as Abdullah Shafique played down the wrong line and lost his off-stump and the opening partnership continues to be a cause of worry for Pakistan. On front foot, Shafique played for an arm ball but it turned away and shattered his off-stump and Pakistan are one down early.
In five innings, the duo of Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique aggregate just 23 runs as an opening pair. They have finally reached nine, their highest-ever partnership. Can they go on for long?
Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique are out in the middle as Pakistan aim for a good start having won the toss on a used pitch.
The pitch was used for the first Test and for the first time, it is being reused for another Test. The cracks have opened up in the last couple of days with the sun baking down and fans standing as umpires on the two sides of the pitch as mentioned by Ben Stokes. A lot of water was given after the end of the first Test and currently, the pitch feels like the one at the end of the first Test. It might be good for the batters at the start but the spinners will come into the game right away.
Pakistan have won the toss and skipper Shan Masood decided to bat first. Masood said that Pakistan want to put runs on the board since it's a used wicket and hoped that his spinners come into effect rather early in the game. England captain Ben Stokes also wanted to bat.
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Matthew Potts, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood(c), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Agha Salman, Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mahmood
England have rested Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson for the second Test with skipper Ben Stokes returning alongside pacer Matt Potts with an all-Durham pace attack. Pakistan on the other hand after dropping a few of their key stars have picked three spinners on what will be a used wicket in Multan.
Captain Ben Stokes will be playing a first Test since July and the first competitive game since early August as he returns after recovering fully from a hamstring tear. Will he play as a genuine all-rounder? Only time will tell.
The result of the first Test would have come as a shocker for Pakistan as they lost despite scoring 556 runs in the first innings. The result sent spanner in the works as Pakistan chose to rest the likes of Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi to manage their workload amid lack of form. Will this bizarre decision pay off?
The second Test between Pakistan and England has created and killed buzz for the series in equal proportion given how bizarre the few days in the run-up to the game have been. Pakistan have made wholesale changes to their squad and Ben Stokes, the returning England captain, was taken aback by the fact that a used wicket will be in operation for two Tests in a row. Can it change Pakistan's fortunes? Welcome to our coverage of the second Test between Pakistan and England from Multan.
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