Pakistan Vs England 2nd Test – Day 1: Pakistan Collapse; England Dominate

• Pakistan had won the 1st Test by displaying a dominant performance at Lords. And, now the hosts were gearing up for the 1st day of the 2nd test against England at Leeds.
• Both teams had added new players to their squads for this test match as each team had lost one player each to injury.
• Pakistan were 1 – 0 up in this series and were looking to win this match and record a historic win in England. Meanwhile, England looked to save face by winning this test match.
• This was the last test of Pakistan Vs England test series so it was definetly going to be very interesting.
• So, the 2nd test (Pakistan Vs England) started as the toss happened between Joe Root and Sarfraz Ahmed, which Pakistan managed to win.
• Sarfraz chose to bat, considering the fact that batting would become much easier in the next innings.

• Pakistan openers, Azhar Ali and Imam-ul-Haq came out to bat and Jimmy Anderson started the proceedings with the new ball.
• The 1st over was a maiden as Stuart Broad came to bowl the 2nd over. He pinned Imam lbw on his 2nd ball, however Imam was saved by the review.
• Imam got a 2nd life, but it didn’t last as in the very same over Imam nicked into the slips where Root took a sharp catch and Pakistan were 1 wicket down for 0 runs.

• Haris Sohail now joined Azhar Ali on the crease as Pakistan hoped to repair the early wicket damage of Imam.
• But, that did not happen as after only sharing 17 runs with Sohail, Azhar was pinned lbw by Broad as the 2nd Pakistani opener also went back to the pavilion.

• Haris Sohail was now joined by Asad Shafiq as Pakistan were in desperate need of a partnership. Both of these batsmen fulfilled this need for quite some time as a solid 32-run stand was shared between the two.
• And, just as Pakistan were looking to make a comeback in this game, the newest inclusion in England’s squad Chris Woakes claimed the wicket of Haris Sohail.

• And with this wicket Pakistan were 3 down for 49 runs. England were sensing a collapse and they were right in their judgement as 3 overs later Woakes took out Pakistan’s senior batsman Asad Shafiq.
• It was a great ball by Woakes that bounced off the pitch and Shafiq nicked it to Cook as the former England captain juggled the ball and finally completed the catch.

• The Pakistan captain, Sarfraz Ahmad now joined the debutant, Usman on the crease. Both batsmen shared a 16-run partnership before England struck thrice in three overs as Pakistan collapse gathered speed.
• Sarfraz’s stumps were uprooted by Anderson as he basically played all around the ball.

• While, Usman Salahuddin was pinned lbw by Stuart Broad as the English pacer took his 3rd wicket of the day.

• Pakistan’s last recognized batsman Faheem Ashraf also couldn’t score as Anderson pinned him lbw on his 2nd ball of the 31st over to send him back for a duck.

• Amir and Shadab were now on the crease. Shadab looked solid however, Amir was just playing and missing most of the balls from the English pacers.
• This confusion led to his wicket as he finally nicked a short delivery from Anderson as Bairstow completed the catch behind the stumps.

• Hasan Ali now joined Shadab as the pair shared the highest partnership of this innings so far. But, the cameo of Hasan Ali soon came to an end as he departed off Woakes bowling after making a 24-ball 16 off the bat.
• Pakistan were 9 wickets down at this point, however, Shadab continued in his endevour and soon reached his fifty.
• This innings of the leg-spinner was now becoming a threat to England and they needed a wicket to finish off Pakistan.
• At this crucial time, it was Sam Curran who delivered as he took the wicket of Shadab to end Pakistan’s innings.

• Pakistan had only managed 174 runs in the 1st innings and if the lower-order and especially Shadab hadn’t contributed then this score would have been much lower.
• Nevertheless, Joe Root was pretty happy with his team’s performance as the English openers Alastair Cook and Kyle Jennings came out to bat.
• Amir was the given the new ball as he started off the 2nd innings with a superb 1st over in which he created two chances.
• But, after that these two batsmen didn’t rattle as a superb 50-run stand was shared between the two.
• And, just as it looked that England will get away with this match, Faheem Ashraf’s economical bowling got him a wicket in his 4th over as Jennings departed afte making a well-made 29.

• The England captain Joe Root now joined Cook on the crease and unsurprisingly, the two batsman brought up yet another 50-run stand as Pakistan searched for a wicket.

• This stand was going to go a long way if it had not been for Hasan Ali who finally got a breakthrough as Cook mistimed a pull and gloved the ball to the keeper.

• Domm Bess joined Joe Root as the night watchman and both batsmen played the remaining overs as the first day of Pakistan Vs England 2nd test came to an end.
• England are trailing by 68 runs with 8 wickets in hand and are certainly ahead at this point.
• Pakistan will look to bounce back on the 2nd day by claiming quick wickets and England will retaliate.

End of 2nd Test – Day 1 (Pakistan Vs England): That is it for today do join allsportspk tomorrow for the 2nd day of this exciting test between Pakistan Vs England.

AN Cook

CR Woakes

DJ Malan

DM Bess

JC Buttler

JE Root (Cpt.)

JM Anderson

JM Bairstow (Wk.)

KK Jennings

SCJ Broad

SM Curran

Asad Shafiq

Azhar Ali

Faheem Ashraf

Haris Sohail

Hasan Ali

Imam-ul-Haq

Mohammad Abbas

Mohammad Amir

Sarfraz Ahmed (Cpt.) (Wkt.)

Shadab Khan

Usman Salahuddin