Vishwas Puri
The day 2 of the first test between Pakistan and England saw a tough competition of Dominance even at a good pace, The Pakistan Team who crossed 300 runs on Day 1, reached above 550 runs with heroic contributions of Agha Salman and Saud Shakeel. Despite losing an early wicket, England too bounced back by the end of the day by scoring 96 runs for one wicket.
Pakistan continued their batting at the beginning of a day, with batters Naseem Shah and Saud Shakeel on the crease. They both contributed well with their batting and took the score of above 400. Naseem, who came to bat as the night watchman on day one, scored 33 runs with the bat, whereas Saud Shakeel also contributed with 82 runs. But the wicketkeeper batsman, Mohammed Rizwan, went for a duck after facing 12 balls.
The all-rounder Salman Agha came to bat at number eight for his team, and scored a blazing century in the match. The strike rate at which he scored the century was brisk too. Salman scored 100 runs on 104 balls with the help of 3 sixes and 10 fours. All the remaining batters could not score much, but Salman’s inning was enough to lead the score of Pakistan above 550. The Pakistan team went all out for 556 runs, whereas Salman Agha was the last man standing who still remained not out.
The English spinner Jack Leach bagged three wickets in a total of 40 overs, followed by Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson, who took two wickets each, whereas Shoaib Bashir, Gus Atkinson, and Joe Root also picked a wicket each.
By attempting to follow such a big score in the second inning, Zak Crawley, and Ollie Pope came to open the innings for England as it was a last-minute decision because the opener, Ben Duckett, injured his finger in the last ball of the first inning. But the captain, Ollie Pope, who could not flourish as an opener in the innings, went for a duck, by facing 12 balls. On account of Pope’s wicket, England lost its first wicket, at just a score of six runs. However, Joe Root and Crawley continued with the Bazball approach and scored at a good strike-rate. Crawley completed his half century in just 55 balls. By the end of the Day, Crawley is at a score of 64 runs, whereas Root is also on the crease with 32 runs. Their partnership will be very crucial in reaching a score better than Pakistan. Both Naseem and Shaheen were bowling proficiently in the last session, and they can prove to be instrumental if Pakistan needs to stop the visitors before 400 runs.
