Pakistan set England a target of 277 runs to win

In the second innings of the Manchester Test, Pakistan gave England a target of 277 runs to win.

The first Test match of the series against Pakistan is ongoing at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, where the third day’s play took place today. After piling the whole team of England for 219 runs, the Pakistan team got a lead of 107 runs, but the team faltered at the beginning of the second innings when 4 wickets fell for a total score of 63 runs in the first innings.

Shaan Masood, who played a classic innings of 156 runs in the first innings, was caught out by Butler for zero in the second innings. The hero of the first innings was the wicket of Stuart Broad.
After him, the young opening batsman Abid Ali tried to play a careful innings but lost his wicket for 20 runs in an attempt to play an aggressive stroke on a ball from the dome base.

After Babar Azam scored just 52 runs in 20 balls, Ben Stokes was caught by Woakes. The fourth wicket fell to Azhar Ali who was lbw off Woakes.

Asad Shafiq scored 29 runs and was run out, Muhammad Rizwan was lbw by Stokes for 27 runs, similarly Shadab Khan also scored 15 runs and was lbw by Broad.

Shaheen Shah Afridi gave just two runs off 11 balls and caught Burns on the ball of Stokes. Yasir Shah remained not out with 12 runs and Mohammad Abbas zero. Pakistan scored a total of 137 runs in 44 overs and took a lead of 224 runs over England.

England’s innings

Earlier, the entire England team was dismissed after scoring 219 runs in the second innings. On behalf of England, Ole Pope scored 62 runs and Jos Buttler was the top scorer with 38 runs, while the most successful bowler of Pakistan was Yasir Shah who guided 4 players to the pavilion, besides Shadab and Abbas dismissed two players each. While Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah got one wicket each.

Earlier, Pakistan managed to score 326 runs in the first innings thanks to Shan Masood’s record-breaking innings. Shan Masood was out after playing an innings of 156 and Babar Azam 69 runs. For England, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer took 3, 3 wickets while Chris Woakes took 2 wickets.

At the end of the second day, the Pakistani bowlers made a brilliant start and did not allow the English batsmen to run and sent their 4 players back to the pavilion for 92 runs. Dom Sibley 8, Rory Burns 4, Ben Stoke zero while captain Joe Root was the guest of 14 runs.

Pakistan team led by Azhar Ali consists of Abid Ali, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Muhammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Yasir Shah, Muhammad Abbas, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah.

The English team is led by Joe Root while other players include Dom Sibley, Rory Burns, Ben Stokes, Ole Pope, Jos Buttler, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer and James Anderson.