King of swing James Anderson once again left all stunned with his magical bowling even on the flat Rawalpindi pitch in the first test between England and Pakistan.
England claimed a win by 74 runs in the first match of the historic series between England and Pakistan.
Both teams are meeting after 17 long years on Pakistani soil, where the visitors were seen in dominating state and won the game in fashion.
Their batters played in white-ball fashion throughout the game, while the flat pitch where spinners mostly bagged the most number of wickets.
England pacers, Ollie Robinson and James Anderson showed their class and grabbed 4-4 wickets each to help England claim a 1-0 lead in the series.
ENG vs PAK 1-5 dec: The English batters show
In the first day of the test, England set a record by scoring 506 runs, and they added another 151 runs in the first two hours of the second day to quickly score 657 runs.
The process saw four English batsmen, including both openers, hit hundreds.
It is interesting to note that every centurion scored runs with a strike rate of over 100. On day 1, Harry Brook, a young man, scored the most runs of any player with 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, while on day 2, he scored 27 runs. In his second test match, he scored 153 off just 116 deliveries.
On the strength of their performances, England was able to score 657 runs.
ENG vs PAK Test: Pakistan 1st innings
However, Pakistan also put up a valiant fight because it was their openers’ moment to shine, which they duly did by slamming hundreds.
With centuries each, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq put up 225 for the first wicket.
James Anderson’s led England attack faced the same heat as Pakistani bowlers as the wicket was once more unresponsive to bowlers.
Babar Azam (136), the captain, stayed tall in the face of English bowlers and scored the most runs for his team.
Prior to Saud Shakeel walking back for 37, he and Shakeel added 133 runs for the fourth wicket and assisted Pakistan in passing the 400-run mark.
A good hand at last by Agha Salam (53) on the fourth day morning put his side a bit closer to the visitor’s total. They were just 78 runs short of English side.
ENG vs PAK Test: England’s dominance in second innings
The visitors maintained their dominance in the second innings of the game and declared the innings on 264 for 7, with Harry Brook once again played a T-20 style knock of 87 in just 65.
Chasing a target of 353 on home surface, Pakistan batters felt it hard to stay for long on crease in front of English bowlers.
Even after having starts and reach 40s they got out and loosen the Pakistan’s chances to win the game.
The scene was historic in the 17-year long wait test match, when ball was in the hand of modern-day great when Pakistan were 264 for 8 and 8 fielders were close to the batters.
Anderson, who is the highest wicket-taker in test cricket in pacers category with 670 wickets, bagged 4 wickets in second innings and ended the game with a figure of 40-16-88-5 at the age of 40.
