Rain forced early stumps on day one of the second Test of the three-match series with Pakistan at 126/5 against England here at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.
Batting first, Pakistan lost the wicket of in-form batsman Shan Masood (1) in the third over of the innings as he was adjudged leg-before wicket on the delivery bowled by James Anderson. Skipper Azhar Ali next came out to bat, and he along with Abid Ali ensured that the side does not lose wickets in a cluster. Rain forced an early lunch interval, and at the break, Pakistan’s score was at 62/1 with both Azhar and Abid at the crease.
After the lunch break, Anderson bowled tight line and length for the hosts and as a result, he was finally rewarded with a breakthrough as Azhar (20) was caught at the slip cordon. This reduced the visitors to 78/2.
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With Pakistan’s score at 85/2, rain hampered play and the match had to be stopped for about two hours. As soon as play resumed after the tea break, Abid (60) got past the half-century mark, but he was sent back to the pavilion by Sam Curran in the 38th over.
In a span of five overs, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes provided two more breakthroughs to England as the duo dismissed Asad Shafiq (5) and Fawad Alam (0) reducing Pakistan to 120/5.
With the visitors’ score at 126/5, rain played spoilsport again and it forced early stumps on day one. For Pakistan, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan remained unbeaten on 25 and 4 respectively.
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