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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