Twitter Reactions: England take control after Abid Ali's half-century on a rainy day

After opting to bat first, Pakistan ended the day at 126/5.

By Tanvir Sahni

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4 Min Read

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England. (Photo Source: Getty Images)

After a nail-biting series opener, England and Pakistan were expected to go neck and neck in the second Test again. However, the first day of the match was continuously interrupted by rain. A total of only 45.4 overs were bowled, after Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first.

After Ben Stokes made himself unavailable, the hosts were forced to make some changes. Zak Crawley and Sam Curran came in, while Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer missed out. Coming to the Asian side, Fawad Alam replaced Shadab Khan in the XI which strengthened their batting a bit.

A good opening day for the English bowlers

With a score of 126/5, the visitors will be hoping for an improved effort on Day 2. They lost their in-form opener, Shan Masood for just a solitary run. A good partnership of 72 between Abid Ali and Azhar Ali led to the Asian side reaching 78 runs for the loss of one wicket. However, post the wicket of Azhar Ali, Pakistan went from 78/1 to 120/5.

Abid Ali played a great knock of 60 runs, making almost half of the total runs made by his side on Day 1. He was dismissed by Sam Curran after edging an away swinger to Rory Burns in the slips. Asad Shafiq lost his wicket soon to leave his team at 117/4. Fawad Alam was now at the crease with the superstar batsman, Babar Azam.

Fawad Alam, who last played a Test match in 2009, would consider himself really unlucky. Making a comeback after more than 10 years, he had to face the in-form English bowling line-up. As a result, the Asian batsman was dismissed for a four ball duck, adding to the worries of the visiting side.

The England side definitely had a good Day. With Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan being the last two recognized batsmen in the middle, a couple of early wickets on Day 2 can do the job for the hosts. Azam, who is batting on 25 will be key to Pakistan’s recovery.

Coming to the England side, they did not use spinner Dominic Bess on the opening day. James Anderson ended with two wickets, while Stuart Broad, Sam Curran and Chris Woakes got one each. With the hosts in a great position, the second day promises to be a competitive one. It would be interesting to see if the visitors can put up a good batting display to reach 250-300 runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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