England v Pakistan, 1st Test – 5 Talking Points

Pakistan beat England by 75 runs to register their first Test cricket win at Lord’s after 20 years. Each player had a contribution to make in the historical win for the men in green.

Rahat Ali with his 3 wickets in the second innings gave them the right kind of start and it was good enough for Yasir Shah to take over from there on. In the end, it was Mohammad Amir who finished the game off for Pakistan. Misbah became the oldest cricketer to score a Test century at Lord’s and Yasir Shah became the first leg-spinner to claim to 10-wickes at the Home of Cricket.

1. Misbah’s ups and downs:

The Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, led his team from the front in the series opener. In his first appearance at Lord’s, he scored his 9th Test century to become the first Pakistani batsman to register his name on Lord’s honours board in the last ten years.

Misbah’s 114 gave Pakistan the strength to post the total of 339, which eventually gave them a lead of 67 runs. Asad Shafiq also showed his mettle with 73 runs and 49 runs in the two innings respectively. However, it was a different story altogether in the second innings for Misbah. He tried to go after the off-spinner Moeen Ali on the second ball he faced and was caught at the boundary. It was a shot which he probably wouldn’t want to play again, surely not on the second ball of his inning.

Also read – Its a top win as captain and for the Pakistan team: Misbah-ul-Haq

2. Humble come back for Mohammad Amir:

Mohammad Amir, who made his Lord’s comeback after his last Test match at the same venue 6 years ago, asked a lot of questions to the English batsmen but unfortunately, it doesn’t reflect in his bowling figures. He had got the edge of Alastair Cook twice in the first innings, but both the chances were dropped by the slip fielders.

Later on, he clean bowled the England skipper and ended with bowling figures of 1 for 65 in the first innings. In the second innings, he didn’t strike with the new ball but came back with the old ball which reversed for him. He cleaned up Stuart Broad and Jake Ball to seal the win and mark his comeback with a Test win.

3. Chris Woakes 11-for:

Chris Woakes had a great game picking up 6 wickets in the first innings and 5 wickets in the second. He looked like playing in a different pitch altogether as he got the ball to swing and earned wickets. He was good with the bat as well remaining unbeaten on 35 in the first innings and scored a resistant 108-ball 23 in the second innings. He faced the most number of deliveries for his team in the game.

In the first inning, the Pakistan openers Mohammad Hafeez and Shan Masood started off well and the England skipper introduced Woakes as the first change bowler. He responded immediately by dismissing both the openers. Woakes finished the game with a 10-wicket match haul but was sadly on the losing side.

Also read – Twitter Reaction: Pakistan clinches victory at Lord’s after 20 long years

4. Yasir Shah’s spin web:

The ‘player of the match’ in the historical win for Pakistan. With 10 wickets against his name, Yasir Shah spun the web around the English batsmen. His 5 wickets in the first innings on Day 2, where the ball was not really spinning was exceptionally good, as it was rightly praised by Australian leg-spinning legend, Shane Warne.

He started off with the wicket of Joe Root in the first inning, probably the most technically sound batsman in the England side. Root tried to go after him and ended up top-edging it for a simple catch. Chasing 282, England started off aggressively and there was a lot of pressure on the leggie. He stayed calm and bowled tight lines to end up with 10 wickets against his name in the game.

5. Pakistan’s remarkable turnaround after 6 years:

This will always be remembered as one of the biggest turnarounds after the spot-fixing scandal in 2010. At the end of the day, Pakistan played good cricket and earned this win. This was Pakistan’s first match in England since 2010, following their controversial spot-fixing cases and Mohammad Amir was the only bowler to have returned to the venue since the infamous scandal. He was indeed a hit in the game, but it was Yasir Shah, who stole the limelight grabbing 10 wickets in the game. Pakistan celebrated their win with unique army push-ups celebration which was something they learnt at the camp they had ahead of their tour to England.

Pakistan celebrated their victory over England with an unusual celebration when the squad performed a series of push-ups. Younis Khan led the squad in performing a routine, followed by a salute in front of the Lord’s pavilion.

Also Watch: Pakistan Cricket team pays tribute to its army