Michael Atherton calls out poor attendance during Pakistan vs England Test in Multan

Centuries from Joe Root and Harry Brook meant that England were close to Pakistan’s first-innings score of 556. The game has been a heaven for batters with just 13 wickets falling across three days. Former England skipper Michael Atherton isn’t happy with the poor attendance during the 1st Test in Multan. 

The former England skipper during a commentary stint said, “There are probably more security staff at the stadium than people in the crowd”. After a decent crowd on the opening day, crowds have failed to turn up for the next two days. 

Naseer Hussain and Kevin Pietersen have also called out the nature of wickets in Multan. Over 1000 runs have already been scored over the last two days with the game witnessing five centuries. 

Michael Atherton praises Joe Root after then latter becomes England’s highest run-scorer in Test cricket

Joe Root went past Alastair Cook to become the top run scorer for England in the Test format. The 33-year-old is now on the cusp of becoming the 1st English batter to reach the 13,000 run mark in the longest format of the game. 

During his chat with Sky Sports, Atherton said “ was so thrilled that he got it with a classic Root-like shot. If you think in your mind's eye of the best of Root you are thinking back-foot punch, maybe a run down to third man but the way he plays those drives down the ground. It was a gorgeous shot to get there. What a lovely moment”

The former England skipper also said “Twelve years of excellence. That is exactly what it has been. I was there in Nagpur, I thought 'this is going to be one of our greats' but you still have to do it. You have to turn potential into performance and it is hard to think of a time when his form has dropped off. He has been so consistent over the years and he has done it in a way which is so pleasing. He is an absolute champion. He is one of our best players if not the best player we have had," 

At the time of writing, England were placed at 469/3 still trailing Pakistan by 87 runs. Ollie Pope was out for a duck towards the end of the 2nd day. Zak Crawley and Root then added 109 runs for the 2nd wicket before Crawley fell for 78. Ben Duckett batting at number 4 scored 84 off 78 balls with 11 hits to the fence. Aamer Jamal ended his innings when he got the England batter out LBW. Joe Root was batting on 168 with Harry Brook batting on 128.