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‘You will need it’ - WATCH: Ramiz Raja’s sarcastic comment to Shan Masood during toss time ahead of 1st Test vs England

Ramiz Raja makes sarcastic comment to Pakistan Test cricket skipper Shan Masood during the toss time ahead of 1st game against England on Monday

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Shan Masood (Source-X)

Shan Masood and Ollie Pope got down to business as the two captains were waiting to flip the coin in Multan. Former Pakistan skipper and PCB chief Ramiz Raja was conducting the duties. Just as Shan Masood was going to flip the coin, Ramiz Raja could be heard saying “There is a smile on your face we need that smile on the boss, you need it”

That statement left Ollie Pope perplexed as the England skipper looked on. Shan Masood on the other hand could only smile as he won the toss and chose to bat first. Ben Stokes was already missing the game as the English star hasn’t recovered from his injury. 

For Pakistan, Aamer Jamal was back in the team along with Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi. The home team came into the three-match series on the back of their series loss to Bangladesh. 

Pakistan make strong start to the game 

Speaking at the toss, Pakistan skipper Masood said “We are going to have a bat. We asked for a good cricket wicket. Both teams are stacked with good batting line-ups. We have been in winning positions and not won from there, it has caused some hurt amongst the team and the cricket fraternity. We want to get back to winning ways and hopefully, these bunch of guys can do that”

Ollie Pope said “I came prepared if Stokes is not available. The conditions are hot, the hottest I might have played in, ready for the challenge. I would have batted first as well. A little bit of moisture and hopefully we can make use of that in the first hour”

England have given debut cap to Brydon Carse who impressed during the ODI series against Australia. Speaking about the 29-year-old debutant, Pope said “He has played some white-ball cricket for England and now we are excited to see how he goes about in Test cricket”

Gus Atkinson got the first wicket of the day when he bowled a short ball down the leg side. Saim Ayub could only edge behind the wicketkeeper as the Pakistani batter was out for 4 runs off 10. Pakistani skipper joined Abdullah Shafique as the pair launched a counterattack on the English bowling. 

At the time of writing, Pakistan were placed at 91/1 from 20.1 overs. Masood was not out on 50 from 43 balls with 6 fours while Shafique was not out on 35. The opener had faced 68 balls and hit 3 sweetly timed fours. 

Ollie Pope Shan Masood
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