Pakistan have lost an opportunity of making something meaningful of a 66-run opening partnership after losing vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan (34) and captain Babar Azam (1) right after the lunch break on the third day of the ongoing second Test match against England in Multan.
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Although there’s nothing new in losing a couple of wickets in a Test match, Pakistan doing the same in a 355-run chase has it in it to suffer especially after losing two key batters first up. The hosts would’ve really hoped for Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique to build on a solid opening stand to gain a substantial advantage in order to make things easy for the others.
Having opened the batting for a large part of his T20I career, Rizwan was promoted as an opener for the first time in Test cricket today. Rizwan, who scored a couple of fours at a strike rate of 69.76, was once again dismissed after getting to an individual start.
Azam, on the other hand, registered a second consecutive instance of getting bowled by England pacer Ollie Robinson. Wanting to shoulder arms to a delivery outside the off-stump, Azam was completely undone with the ball seaming into him to hit the stumps.
Imam ul Haq injured
A primary reason why Pakistan tinkered with an in-form opening combination in a crucial run-chase was because of regular opener Imam-ul-Haq suffering a hamstring injury.
With Imam currently in a hospital for MRI scans, the home team had no option than to promote one of their batters as Shafique’s partner. Imam, who is facing issues with his right hamstring, might be seen coming out to bat in spite of the status of recovery due to the match situation.
Having said that, an official update on his injury is yet to be provided by the team management. With more than two days remaining in the match, another result in bound to come in this three-match series.
UPDATE: Imam-ul-Haq has come out to bat at No. 5. It is for the first time in 35 Test innings that the left-handed batter is batting as a non-opener.
