England bat first at Multan as Pakistan ring three changes

Toss England win the toss and bat first in opposition to Pakistan

Legspinner Abrar, who claimed 42 wickets at 21.95 for Sindh on this season’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, was introduced together with his first Test cap by Pakistan’s coach, Saqlain Mushtaq, and will probably be into motion imminently, after England gained the toss for the second time within the sequence and selected as soon as once more to bat first.

England memorably posted a first-day document rating of 506 for 4 on the opening day of the sequence final week, and although Ben Stokes promised that his staff would search to get again onto the entrance foot as soon as once more, he was barely coy concerning the prospects of a repeat efficiency on a barely drier, extra cracked pitch which will probably provide extra to the bowlers.

“I don’t think we can read into it too much, see what it offers in the first hour, but we’ll see if we can set the same benchmark with some exciting positive cricket,” Stokes mentioned.

Babar Azam, Pakistan’s captain, acknowledged that it had as soon as once more been a great toss for England to win. “Definitely batting first,” he mentioned. “The pitch looks dry but we need to bowl in good areas.”

England, in the meantime, have not one of the issues that dogged them on the identical stage of the primary Test, when a illness bug practically pressured a 24-delay to the beginning of the sport. They named their XI on the eve of the sport, with Mark Wood returning instead of the injured Liam Livingstone to offer an excessive tempo possibility, and Ollie Pope retaining the gloves over Ben Foakes.

Despite the pre-match issues about smog in Multan, the morning has dawned hazy however with none important visibility points, and play is ready to start on time.

Pakistan 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Babar Azam (capt), 4 Saud Shakeel, 5 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 6 Agha Salman, 7 Mohammad Nawaz, 8 Faheem Ashraf, 9 Zahid Mahmood, 10 Abrar Ahmed, 11 Mohammad Ali

England 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (wk), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Will Jacks, 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson