Two centuries by Pakistan on Day 1, but yet on another “highway” track

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Vishwas Puri

The Pakistani batting flourished against England on Day 1 in the first test match of the three-match test series at their home. Despite losing the first wicket of opener, Sam Ayub at just 8 runs, the team bounced back well. After the fall of Sam Ayub`s wicket, skipper Shaan Masood came to bat, accompanying the opener, Abdullah Shafique. They both continued to bat at a decent strike rate, and kept building a mutual partnership.

They both built a skyscraper partnership of 253 runs. In this partnership, Shafiq contributed with 98 runs off 138 balls, whereas Captain Shan Masood scored a total of 150 runs in this partnership. However, both lost their wickets within a margin of three runs, but their innings were enough to put the innings of Pakistan to a decent score, and yet there are six wickets still left with the “night watchman” Naseem Shah and Saud Shakeel batting on the crease.

 One of the main reasons for these century knocks, is the surface of the Multan Stadium. Since some of the last years, Pakistan has been producing flat pitches, which are assisting their batters as there is no turn or swing available on the pitches, putting a tough challenge to the bowlers as the bowl comes too easy  and straight to the batsmen.  

 But these pitches have backstabbed their own team as Pakistan has not won any test match at home since 2022. Just a month ago, Pakistan also got clean-sweaped by Bangladesh at their home recently. The flat track might have helped batters such as Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan since years past, but the bowling attack of Pakistan, including pacers such as Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, and Haris Rauf, which looks fierce in other countries, seems clueless in their own. Also, the heat in Pakistan makes the bowlers more ineffective as they lose their stamina in a short period of time, leading to a decline in their performance. Despite crossing 300 runs by just losing three wickets, there is still no guarantee that Pakistan will win the match. The pitch might also assist English batters in the second innings of the match, making the Pakistani bowlers unproductive.

The team lost the wicket of Babar Azam in the last few overs of the first day and sent Naseem Shah to prevent further fall of wickets for the day. By the end of day 1, Pakistan is at a score of 328 runs with six Wickets in hand. The wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan is yet to come to bat, According to the conditions of the surface, the Pakistan should atleast cross the mark of 450 runs to allow their bowlers to stop the visitors as soon as possible, on this surface

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