England began its tour of Pakistan after 17 years with the first test at Rawalpindi on Thursday. The three lions were laid low by a virus which had affected more than half their team. The start of the first test between two nations was under threat till early morning.
Much to the relief of the fans, the game was given a go ahead as both the boards agreed to play the game. Captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had already stated their desire to keep the new found aggression via Baz-Ball going.
The story as it happened โ
England won the toss and chose to bat first as the home team Pakistan handed caps to four debutants. Saud Shakeel, Zahid Mahmood, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Ali. England had two debutants in Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone.
Substandard hosting by Pakistan โ
It seems nothing is going the way of Pakistan as far as hosting international cricket is concerned. The biggest flaw was that there was no DRS available for nearly 20 overs of the dayโs play. Naseem Shah went up for few appeals during the first hour but much to the chagrin of the Pakistanis all of them were turned down and they couldnโt use the DRS.
Another hilarious moment happened when the pace bowling crazy Pakistani fans spotted there was no Speed Gun. This increased their ire towards their board and the chairman Ramiz Raja. If that wasnโt enough, the English national anthem was played even before the players could even reach the ground.
England opener give a quick start with their double century stand โ
Ben Duckett playing test cricket after 6 years, opened the innings with Zak Crawley. The duo till lunch were scoring at nearly 7 runs per over on a pitch which had nothing in it for the fast bowlers.
Crawley had scored 96 not out before lunch, before reaching the 3 figure mark post the lunch break. This was the 3rd test ton for Crawley, meanwhile Ben Duckett too was scoring runs at quick pace and got to his maiden test ton.
Pakistan bowlers strike in quick succession โ
Debutant Zahid Mahmood got the wicket of Ben Duckett who went for a reverse sweep. The Pakistanis went for the now working DRS and the 3rd umpire gave Duckett out LBW for 107 off 110 balls with 15 fours.
Haris Rauf then struck to get his 1st test wicket when he castled Crawley for 122 off 111 balls with 21 hits to the fence. At the time of writing England were 257/2 in the 41st over with Joe Root and Ollie Pope at the crease.
Fans show their anger on twitter โ
The cricket fans couldnโt see the funny side to the entire fiasco, as they took their anger out on Ramiz Raja and slammed him on Twitter. You can read all the angry tweets by the Pakistani fans aimed at Ramiz Raja and PCB embedded below.
National anthem of England started before player reached their place.This is what happens in pakistan ๐๐@mohsinaliisb @razi_haider @TheRealPCB
โ Saurav Raj (@SauravR79942100) December 1, 2022
What a historic series๐๐๐
โ Ajay Sharma (@TheArchitect96) December 1, 2022
No speedometer.
No DRS
Highway road covered with sand and portrayed as pitch.
Visitors falls sick just a day before. ๐๐๐#PAKvsEng @wwasay @Rizzvi73
Why does Pakistan produce such worst pitches ? It's so flat that English openers are playing with ODI approach ๐ญ๐ Rank turners are way better than such 5 day run fest pitches. 150+ bowlers are getting beaten like spinners #PAKvsEng #PakvsEng2022 #PakvEng
โ Anuugacchati Pravaha ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ฆ๏ธ๐๐๐ฅ (@tulunaduUtd) December 1, 2022
Nasser Hussain โThis is an absolute road.โ ๐ฅฒ#PAKvsEng #ENGWAL @TheRealPCB pic.twitter.com/1J73KCyh6a
โ Haamizbhatt04 (@HaamizGulzar) December 1, 2022
You get England to tour after so many years. All the hype and then the pitch is a road.. Cmon pakistan cricket with that kind of fast bowling you should not make such pitches. Poor... #PAKvsEng
โ Ashfaq (@AshfaqIndra) December 1, 2022
Pak vs Eng test playing on Cement Road ๐ตโ๐ซ. No swing and nothing. Pitch looks like cement road... #PAKvsEng
โ Vinay Kulkarni (@watchlist1105) December 1, 2022
Playing national anthem of England even before they take ground. Empty stadium. Poor Food and Water. No DRS. Great start
โ FIFA WORLD KING (@FIFAWORLDKING_) December 1, 2022
What is happening? Not a single bowler looking threatening to โem? ๐คท๐ปโโ๏ธ #PAKvsENG
โ Billy (@bilalfleming) December 1, 2022
With lack of wear & tear due to low sunlight, donโt see how this pitch will break for spin
โ suspended soul (@aaditea_) December 1, 2022
Another draw incoming unless some team collapses in their 2nd innings#PAKvsEng #PakvsEng2022 #PAKvENG