(Reuters) – Pakistan captain Shan Masood combined with opener Abdullah Shafique in a burgeoning 114-run stand to steer the hosts to 122 for one at lunch on the opening day of the first test against England in Multan on Monday.
Gus Atkinson got Saim Ayub caught behind for four in the only dismissal in the morning session following Masood’s decision to bat after winning the toss.
The Pakistan captain’s unbeaten 61 included seven fours, while Shafique, batting on 53, hit five fours and a six.
Pakistan did not start well though and Ayub tickled an Atkinson delivery down the leg side to be caught behind in the fourth over of the day.
Masood, then on 16, was given lbw to Brydon Carse in the debutant seamer’s second over but the batter reviewed the decision and got it overturned after replays confirmed the ball had pitched outside the leg stump.
Masood went on to take two runs off Atkinson to race to a 43-ball fifty.
Shafique got a reprieve on 35 when he went for a risky single and England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope’s direct throw narrowly missed the stumps.
He stepped out and hit Shoaib Bashir for a six to bring up his fifty.
England’s regular captain Ben Stokes missed the test with a hamstring injury.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
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