Pakistani batters dominated England during the first day of the opening Test match in Multan. At tea, the home team were placed 233/1 from 52 overs, with Shan Masood batting on 130 and Abdullah Shafique on 94. Seeing the conditions, former England stars Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen criticized the pitch for the 1st Test.
Vaughan wrote, “Looks like a road in Multan. Great toss to have won also nice to see @shani_official batting in what looks like padel shoes”. Kevin Pietersen also wrote on X, “That wicket in Multan- looks like GRAVEYARD!”.
After the early loss of Saim Ayub for 4 runs, Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique played attacking cricket against the clueless-looking England bowling attack. Pakistan came into the series on the back of a huge loss against Bangladesh in their previous Test series.
A 4-year wait ends for Shan Masood in Multan
Pakistan Test skipper and number 3 batter Shan Masood had to wait for four years to score his century. The left-handed batter last scored a ton in 2020 when he scored 156 away from home against England. Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi were seen overjoyed as the skipper reached the three-figure mark.
The left-handed batter was facing Chris Woakes as he hit a boundary and two runs off the next ball to reach 99. With a single, Masood reached his 5th Test century and finally ended his 4 year wait to reach the mark.
Abdullah Shafique too reached his century in style as the right-handed batter hit a huge six. Jack Leach was hit over the mid-on region as the Pakistani opener reached his century in style.
Ollie Pope looked bereft of ideas as his bowlers lacked bite to disturb the set Pakistani batters. Once Shafique reached his ton, he turned to his team and the crowd and got a nice reception. It was a welcome sight for many fans who had lost their first-ever home series to Bangladesh just a few weeks ago.
At the time of writing, Pakistan were placed at 246/1 from 55 overs. Shan Masood was batting on 137 with his partner having just reached his ton. With the kind of form the home batters are in it seems England are in for the long haul in Multan.
Here’s how the fans reacted
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