MULTAN, OCT 7 (DNA) : Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique scored half-centuries to keep Pakistan in command on the first day of the first Test against England at Multan Cricket Stadium here on Monday.
The hosts scored 122-1 at Lunch with Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique standing strong at 61 and 53 respectively.
Shan opted to bat first after winning the toss and came out to bat in the fourth over after Saim Ayub (4) fell to Gus Atkinson.
Abdullah, who was struggling in the recent Bangladesh series, took his time to settle before displaying his strokeplay.
Meanwhile, Shan got his usual quick start and converted it into a dominant half-century, scoring at a strike-rate of more than 100.
Abdullah also switched gears at the stroke of Lunch and attacked Shoaib Bashir, hitting two fours and a six to bring up his first half-century in the last seven innings. He conceded 77 balls to reach the milestone.
Playing XIs
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Abrar Ahmad.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir.
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