Masood and Shafique’s Centuries Lead Pakistan’s Strong Start Against England in 1st Test

Key Performances and Match Scorecard

Match Analysis

At the beginning of their series against England, the hosts showed a great deal of improvement, led by Shan Masood’s first century as Pakistan’s Test captain. On a day of high temperatures and hard yakka in Multan, England’s inexperienced attack was made to toil by Abdullah Shafique, who slipstreamed Masood to end a run of bad form with his fifth Test century.

The situation for the touring team could have been worse, as they were in danger of losing when Masood and Shafique put together an almost impossible double-century stand to limit Pakistan to 261 for 1 in the evening session. However, following a breakthrough from Gus Atkinson and a brilliant 151 from Jack Leach, England could look back on their efforts with some pleasure thanks to the late wicket of Babar Azam.

But there was no denying that this was Pakistan’s day. They were helped by a formidable top-order duo despite being without a victory in home Tests since 2021 and having suffered five straight losses, including a 2-0 humiliation against Bangladesh, since Masood assumed the captaincy late in the previous year. A steep learning curve faced an England attack led by 35-year-old Chris Woakes, which had three bowlers who had never played in Pakistan before, including debutant Brydon Carse, in calm circumstances.

The second-wicket stand for Pakistan, which ended up being worth 253, occupied the most of the match. After England had dismissed Saim Ayub for a cheap total in the fourth over, Masood’s forceful innings—the second-fastest century by a Pakistani captain—and a more resolute effort from Shafique sealed the deal. Talk of spicy pitches and a vulnerable home batting lineup had preceded England’s arrival in the nation.

For the next two and a half sessions, Ollie Pope, filling in for the injured Ben Stokes once more, rotated through six bowlers as the temperature hovered in the upper 30s C. That was to be their lone success. On 16, Masood was able to overturn an out-of-bounds call that had been given to Carse, who had reached 90 mph in his opening Test match before losing steam due to the heat. A delivery from the same bowler had come up just short of Pope at point when he had reached 133. There was only some excellent strokeplay in between.

When Shoaib Bashir entered the bowling attack, Masood instantly picked up the pace, evidently trying to exert pressure on England’s number one spinner. His first boundary came from an edge off Carse. Following a non-turning ball that hit Masood on the pad, the morning session saw Masood smash four of Bashir’s next eight balls to the rope, pick a skip down the track, and blast through cover en route to a 43-ball half-century.

Pope put him to the test with the short-ball strategy after lunch, and Masood might have been a bit lucky to top-edge Atkinson all the way over fine leg for six. Masood, however, reached the 90s with a more genuine loft down the ground off Leach. He then hammered the returning Woakes through cover point and then hit a single off the 102nd ball to record his first Test century since four years and 27 innings, dating back to Pakistan’s 2020 tour of England.

Shafique, who was looking to get back on track after six innings of single figures in seven Tests, overcame a cautious start when Woakes tormented him on both edges. When Shafique attempted a nonexistent run to mid-on during the morning session, Pope failed to deliver the stumps at the non-striker’s end, which was the closest England came to breaking the stand.

With lunch almost ready, Shafique attacked Bashir, taking his cue from Masood and tripling his score with a volley of 4-4-6, the last of which took him to fifty from 77 balls. Even though he was not as smooth as the other one, the two remained quite calm as the stand continued past 200 deep into the afternoon. Pope’s DRS record as captain became 11-0 when he tried to review a catch at slip off Masood but was unsuccessful.