On Monday, the first Test match against England that began in Multan broke all engagement records for Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood and opener Abdullah Shafique. On a hot and sunny day in Multan, the pair cooked the inexperienced bowlers of England on a well-grassed but dry looking surface. Following the loss of younger opener, Saim Ayub, to Gus Atkinson within the first session, Masood and Shafique added an astonishing 253 runs for the second wicket. The two became history by putting up the fourth highest ever second wicket in Pakistan Test cricket.
Former cricketing greats Mushtaq Mohammad and Zaheer Abbas surpass all existing records of partnerships for the second wicket in Test matches for Pakistan, standing at 291 against England in Birmingham back in 1971.
In this manner Masood performed the role of an aggressor where he scored at a strike rate of 100 for most parts of his innings after leading the charge as the captain.
Shafique was less adventurous in his innings especially in the second session when the pacers targeted him with short balls.
When both parties started to appear cramped the record breaking partnership was brought to a disappointing conclusion. Masood became lazy in his approach to preventing a wicket fall during Atkinson’s over and by doing so caused the end of a destructive 253-run relationship. Afterward, Shafique took his exit after scoring 102(184).
Soon after, Masood flew back into his partner’s arms thanks to a delivery from Jack Leach and subsequently kindly returned the ball to the waiting spinner. Masood’s impressive performance in Multan came to an end with 151(177) on the board.
In the annals of the embellished Multan Cricket Stadium, this was the second-highest tested format partnership that the ground has ever hosted.
The timeless 336 run stand between the legendary Indian cricketers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar still remains the tallest order yet to be overthrown.
The record crashing partnership is the first time since December 2019 after five years if England allowed a test of more than 250 runs.
