England’s bowlers were praised for “digging deeper and deeper and deeper” after they fought back from two sessions of toil and trouble to take three wickets in the last as Pakistan ended the opening day in Multan on 328 for four.
Shan Masood scored 151 and Abdullah Shafique 102, combining for a partnership of 253 as the home side reached 261 for one before Gus Atkinson, Jack Leach and Chris Woakes all struck late in the day to bring England back into the game in the first Test.
“The seamers were fantastic,” said Jeetan Patel, England’s spin bowling coach. “They were dripping by the time they came back in [at tea] but they still went back out, and they went back out with the energy to try and take another wicket and look for the best opportunity.
“You go through every plan. Everyone is coming to you with ideas but you keep getting overwhelmed by the heat and the weather. You’ve got to dig deeper and deeper and deeper and try to find a way. I think the guys did that.”
Though the seamers struggled to make early inroads – “It’s pretty hot out there, it’s pretty docile at times. We probably expected it to do a little bit more,” Patel said – with the floodlights on, the second new ball fresh and the day in its final minutes Woakes produced his best over to prise out the key wicket of Babar Azam for 30, beating the edge before getting his next delivery to move back into the batter, the umpire’s lbw decision confirmed after a review.
“Getting one ball to move away and then one to nip back is high skill, but when you are that knackered and saturated and dripping with sweat it is a fine art,” Patel said. “To get that wicket tonight, I think that proves he’s a skilful bowler no matter where he is. I couldn’t commend [the bowlers] any more. The toil they put in today was high end. I think we’re pretty happy with how it’s ended up.”
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Shafique’s century was his first in 15 months and ended a run in which he had scored fewer than five runs in seven of his previous nine Test innings. “I am feeling happy because performing for your team is a next-level feeling,” he said. “The way Shan and I made our partnership was crucial for us. The main thing I am focusing on is the process. If I do good things in the process I am able to do well in the match.”