Pakistan finish opening day of Test on 328\/4
\n MULTAN
\nThe opening day of the first Pakistan vs England Test concluded with the home team recovering and scoring 328\/4 on Monday at the Multan Cricket Stadium.
\nPakistan\u2019s come back was aided by skipper Shan Masood who scored a century on the first day, leading his side from the front.
\nThe side, after winning the toss and opting to bat first, sustained an early shock with opening batter Saim Ayub getting caught behind the wicket, becoming Gus Atkinson\u2019s victim after scoring just four runs.
\nHowever, Masood and opener Abdullah Shafique\u2019s 114-run stand steered the national side to 122-1 at lunch.
\nThe match ended at 328\/4 with Saud Shakeel (35*) and Naseem Shah (0*) on the crease.
\nThe match, first of the three-match series, is being played at the Multan Cricket Stadium and is part of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25.
\nDuring the match today, Masood was given a lbw after a delivery by Brydon Carse in the debutant seamer\u2019s second over, but the batter reviewed the decision and got it overturned after replays confirmed the ball had pitched outside the leg stump.
\nMasood went on to take two runs off Atkinson to race to a 43-ball fifty.
\nShafique got a reprieve on 35 when he went for a risky single and England\u2019s stand-in captain Ollie Pope\u2019s direct throw narrowly missed the stumps.
\nDespite missing the stumps, the stand-in captain didn\u2019t give up and dismissed Shafique at 59.5 over, after the player scored 102 runs of 184 balls, with 10 boundaries and two towering sixes.
\nHowever, players like Saim Ayub couldn\u2019t do much for the team and ended up making four runs only.
\nAdditionally, the star of the day, Masood was caught by Jack Leach at 62.3 overs, after contributing the most with 151 runs off 177 balls, with 13 shots towards the boundary and two sixes.
\nBabar Azam aimed for a half century but ended up making runs below 40.
\nThe former white-ball captain made 30 off 71 after five fours, directing towards the pavilion at 84.3 overs after Chris Woakes dismissed the player through a lbw.
\nBowling first, Woakes and Leach bagged one wicket each while Atkinson took two wickets.
\nPakistan will resume their first innings on the second day, starting from the score they ended with on Monday.
\nIt is to be noted that England are being led by Ollie Pope in the first Test after the visitors\u2019 captain Ben Stokes was ruled out of the contest due to a hamstring injury in the Hundred League.
\nMoreover, James Anderson, is not accompanying the team on their tour of Pakistan, as he is participating in the Scotland\u2019s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
\nThe last time England were in Pakistan for a red-ball series, they handed a 3-0 defeat to the national side back in 2022.
\nBefore that, the visitors had played 24 Tests in Pakistan, winning just two out of them making the 3-0 win much more remarkable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan finish opening day of Test on 328\/4 MULTAN The opening day of the first Pakistan vs England Test concluded with the home team recovering and scoring 328\/4 on Monday at the Multan Cricket Stadium. Pakistan\u2019s come back was aided by skipper Shan Masood who scored a century on the first day, leading his side […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-435897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n