By 
RAWALPINDI:
On a calm Friday, Pakistan’s openers contributed to the team’s 181 runs without loss in response to England’s massive 657 in the first Test in Rawalpindi.
Imam-ul-Haq (90) and Abdullah Shafique (89) were close to scoring hundreds at the end of day two when the umpires called stumps with 17 overs left. For the home team to avoid the follow-on, 277 runs are still necessary.
The England attack, captained by James Anderson, labored in a similar way to how the host team did as the wicket once more proved unresponsive to bowlers.
Shafique was fortunate to withstand Ollie Pope’s assertive caught-behind appeal off a rising delivery. Joel Wilson, the umpire, gave a gentle signal for out, but Marais Erasmus, the television official, overruled it.
Haq drove spinner Jack Leach for two to reach 1,000 runs in his 17th Test. Haq had previously struck a century in each of his two innings on the same surface in a Test match against Australia in March.
In his eighth Test, Shafique, who also struck a hundred against Australia in the March match, hit two boundaries to achieve his fifth half-century, demonstrating his quick development. Haq quickly followed suit, scoring his sixth fifty-six with a single off Joe Root.
At the start of the innings, when England was at 506-4, they added 151 runs in 125 minutes, with Harry Brook increasing his overnight total of 101 to 153 and becoming one of the innings’ four centurions.
Suraj Randiv, an off-spinner for Sri Lanka, gave up 222 against India in Colombo in 2010. Total England scored against Pakistan is higher than any other Test total they have achieved (it was 589-9 in Manchester in 2016).
Thursday saw England break Australia’s record of 494-6 against South Africa in Sydney by becoming the first side to achieve 500 runs on the first day of a Test match. The other century players in the innings were Ben Duckett (107) and Ollie Pope (108). Zak Crawley (122). England’s three-match Test series in Pakistan is the first they have played there in 17 years after declining to tour during that time due to security concerns.
