Kamran Ghulam’s Maiden Century Anchors Pakistan to 259-5 Against England
Mohammad Rizwan (37*) and Salman Ali Agha (5*) will resume the second day for Pakistan with the scoreboard reading 259-5.
The hosts lost Saud Shakeel (4) early in the final session with Jamie Smith taking a sharp catch behind the stumps.
Mohammad Rizwan joined Kamran Ghulam and took his time to settle in. Meanwhile, Kamran continued his strokeplay and scored his maiden Test century during the 65-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Kamran Ghulam scored 118 runs from 224 with the help of eleven boundaries before getting cleaned up by Shoaib Bashir.
Salman Ali Agha joined Mohammad Rizwan and took the team to 259/5 at Stumps.
Pakistan had scored 173-3 with Kamran Ghulam playing at 75 and Saud Shakeel at 4 after the second session on Day 1.
The hosts enjoyed a fruitful session as Kamran and Saim frustrated England bowlers with their brilliant strokeplay.
Both batters completed their half-centuries during the 149-run partnership before Potts provided the breakthrough for the visitors at the stroke of Tea.
Saim Ayub was caught by England captain Ben Stokes at short mid-off after scoring 77 runs from 160 balls, which featured seven boundaries.
The hosts scored 79-2 at Lunch on the first day with Saim Ayub and Kamran Ghulam on the crease at 40 and 29 respectively.
Pakistan captain Shan Masood opted to bat first after winning the toss, however, the decision seemed to backfire as the hosts slipped to 19-2.
On a spin-friendly Multan pitch, Jack Leach bowled Abdullah Shafique (7) and enticed Shan Masood (3) to flick in the air in the next over only to be caught by Zak Crawley.
Debutant Kamran Ghulam, who replaced Babar Azam in Pakistan’s Playing XI, joined Saim Ayub and together they launched the comeback for the home team.
Together they added an unbeaten 60 runs for the third wicket against England’s spin attack to push Pakistan’s total to 79-2 until Lunch was called.
It’s worth noting that England are leading the three-match series 1-0 after thumping Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs in the first match at the same venue.
Pakistan’s Playing XI: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel (vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mahmood.
England’s Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Matt Potts, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.
