Imam and Abdullah help Pakistan fight back against England’s 657

RAWALPINDI: Openers Imamul Haq and Abdullah Shafique helped Pakistan fight back with 181 for no loss on the second day of their first Test against England at Rawalpindi Stadium here on Friday. Pakistan mounted a spirited reply to England’s mammoth first innings total of 657 as the opening Test between the sides turned into a veritable run-fest on a lifeless track in Rawalpindi. After nearly five sessions in the field, Pakistan displayed their stomach for a fight to finish the day till 476 runs behind, in what has become a batting contest with more than 800 runs scored across the two days. Imam (90) and Abdullah (89) were approaching hundreds when umpires called stumps with 17 overs remaining. The home team still need 277 runs to avoid the follow-on.

The pitch was again unresponsive to bowlers as the England attack, led by James Anderson, toiled in the same manner as the home side. Abdullah was lucky to survive a confident caught behind appeal by Ollie Pope off a rising delivery. Although umpire Joel Wilson gave a soft signal for out, television umpire Marais Erasmus over-ruled it. Imam, who scored a century in each innings on the same pitch in a Test against Australia in March, pushed spinner Jack Leach for two to complete 1,000 runs in his 17th Test. Abdullah, who also scored a hundred against Australia in the March Test, cracked two boundaries to reach his fifth half-century in his eighth Test, highlighting his rapid progress. Imam followed suit soon after, taking a single off Joe Root for his fifth half-century.

Earlier resuming on 506-4, England continued to bat with a take-no-prisoners attitude and went on to post their highest total against Pakistan. Skipper Ben Stokes nonchalantly stepped out to smash the second ball of the day over bowler Naseem Shah’s head for a six en route to an 18-ball 41. Naseem (3-140), leading a Pakistan attack which contained three debutants, had his revenge four balls later when he clean bowled the England captain. Liam Livingstone fell for nine in his debut Test but overnight batsman Harry Brook (153) was simply unstoppable. The 23-year-old, who smashed six fours in a Saud Shakeel over on Thursday, once again embodied England’s highly entertaining brand of cricket milking 27 runs from a Zahid Mahmood over. Leg spinner Zahid bled 235 runs — most by any Test debutant — in 33 overs for his four wickets. Naseem finally ended Brook’s 116-ball blitz, which contained five sixes and 19 fours and England added 151 runs to their overnight score before being all out. Their run rate of 6.5 is the highest for any team in a test innings of 100-plus overs.

If England batted with gusto, Pakistan replied with grit and approached the match in a more conventional way. While Imam and Abdullah could not match the jaw-dropping strike rate of their English counterparts, their dogged partnership ensured Pakistan remain in the contest on a track which offered nothing for the bowlers on either side. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja did not hide his disappointment with the pitch. “It is embarrassing for us, especially when you have a cricketer as chairman,” the former Pakistan captain told reporters during the lunch break. “This is not a good advert for cricket. We’re a better cricketing nation than this. We live in the dark ages of pitches in Pakistan. It’s embarrassing for us, especially if you have a cricketer as chairman.” On the same pitch in March this year, some 1,187 runs were scored for the loss of just 14 wickets as Pakistan and Australia played out a tame draw. Rawalpindi was termed “below average” by International Cricket Council match referee Ranjan Madugalle, who also awarded it a demerit point. A venue is banned for 12 months if it accumulates five demerit points over a period of five years.