Lunch time in Test cricket: Why lunch break in PAK vs AUS 1st Rawalpindi Test will be delayed by 30 minutes?

Lunch time in Test cricket: Lunch will be delayed by 30 minutes on the first Test of the first Test of Australia’s tour of Pakistan 2022.

Pakistan opening batters Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq have made a steady start after captain Babar Azam won the toss and chose to bat in the first Test against Australia in Rawalpindi.

Including himself, Australia captain Pat Cummins has employed five bowlers in just over an hour but the visitors are yet to pick a wicket at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.

It is worth mentioning that Australia have donned black armbands over their jerseys as a mark of respect for former Australia wicket-keeper batter Rod Marsh, who passed away this morning after suffering a heart attack in Queensland last week.

Lunch time in Test cricket

In the general run of things, the first session of any Test match lasts for a couple of hours. In fact, all Test match sessions are expected to be two-hours long separated by a couple of breaks namely lunch (40 minutes) and tea (20 minutes).

In exceptional situations, primarily when overs are lost due to rain, bad light or any other reason, umpires have the authority of beginning the next day’s play 30 minutes earlier than the scheduled time. As a result, the duration of the first session gets increased.

As far as the ongoing match is concerned, the first session will last for two hours and 30 minutes. Readers must note that the same will happen only today, i.e., Friday.

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Since Friday is considered as the day of gathering or “Jumah” in Islam, a slight change has been made to the timings of the morning session in order to allow players to offer their Friday prayers during the lunch break.

Ideally, a 40-minute lunch break would’ve happened between (after a two-hour morning session which began at 10:00 AM) 12:00 PM – 12:40 PM (local time). However, due to a schedule change today, an hour-long lunch break will be taken between 12:30 PM – 01:30 PM (local time).