Pakistan vs England: Shafique and Masood’s Record Stand

Islamabad, Oct 15: Pakistan vs England Shafique and Masood’s Record Stand

Pakistan vs England Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique, the opening pair for Pakistan, have established their greatest partnership to date in the ongoing second Test match against England in Multan, although a modest one at just 15 runs.

This pairing, although a slight improvement, underscores the continued challenges faced by Pakistan’s opening duo in Test cricket.

In an attempt to take advantage of the advantageous circumstances and lay a solid foundation, Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first against England.

Though they have opened together in five matches so far, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique have not yet developed a strong rapport. They have yet to give the team a strong start in any of the nine innings they have played together.

Here are the collective runs scored by the opening duo together:

The difficulties the opening duo is facing are a sign of more serious problems with Pakistan’s Test cricket structure.

The squad is currently on a winless streak and hasn’t claimed a victory at home since 2022. A crushing defeat to England in the first Test, when Pakistan lost by an innings and 47 runs despite amassing a strong first-innings total of 556, served as a vivid reminder of this bad run of play.

Due to the underwhelming results, the selection committee decided to rest important players including Naseem Shah, Babar Azam, and Shaheen Afridi.

These choices are a reflection of how urgent it is to resolve the team’s issues and improve its performance in the game’s longest format.