England vs Pakistan: Babar Azam puts visitors in a decent position in a rain curtailed Day 1

Day 1 of the first test between England vs Pakistan ended with Pakistan batting on 139/2 after playing 49 overs. The first day was mostly hampered by rain that reduced the game by 41 overs. Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first as openers Shan Masood and Abid Ali came in to bat at the crease. Pacer Jofra Archer removed Ali (16 runs) and gave his side the first breakthrough in the 16th over of the innings. 

Two overs after Abid Ali’s dismissal, Pakistan lost another wicket in the form of skipper Azhar Ali. This time Chris Woakes made the noise as he removed the Pakistan skipper for a duck. Visitors were reduced to 43/2 in 18.1 overs. 

Then, Babar Azam came in to bat and also started settling into the crease and also scored runs at regular intervals. He had a confident start to his innings as he batted long until the lunch break. Pakistan was 53/2 after the lunch was called but the second session was completely dominated by Pakistan as the duo stitched 96 runs partnership and also crossed 100 runs. 

England’s pacers went all hard at the duo but their resilient approach hit the nerves of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. In between skipper Joe Root also brought in the spinner Dominic Bess to test the visitors. The duo did lose their patience against Bess and went on to play a couple of careless shots, but the hosts missed both of those opportunities. 

Babar Azam scored his 14th Test fifty before the rain interruption. The match was then interrupted for over three hours which was later compensated by the umpires with an extra hour of play. The visitors will look to capitalize on the second day of the test and score as many runs in the first innings to be able to win the match.