Key events
Here come the Pakistan openers, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Shafique. The first target is to reach 10. Their eight opening partnership in Tests have all ended in single figures, with a miserable average of 2.87. Yep.
“Pakistan, it seems, have taken the phrase ‘lucky number seven’ quite literally, winning the toss and tossing in not one, but s-e-v-e-n spinners,” writes Zain Malik. “Desperation? Maybe. Innovation? Definitely. The pitch? Rumored to turn faster than a drift car on a tight corner. But let’s hope we don’t get a repeat of the Pindi fiasco, where Shan and the boys brought four pacers expecting Headingley, only to find themselves bowling on something closer to a runway at Jinnah International.”
Does this constitute pitch doctoring?
“The last Test was quite the thing, huh?” says Felix Wood. “Pakistan have thrown aside all the best practice guides of how Test cricket should be done ahead of this match… is this their tribute to Bazball?”
Ha, I hadn’t thought of it like that. The trouble is we can’t give it a name as nobody knows which of the 427-man selection committee has driven this change.
Rameez Raja, talking on Sky Sports, doesn’t think much of Pakistan’s volte farce
They’re trying to change the DNA of Pakistan cricket… it’s a cocktail of confusion… this is a leap of faith… they’re trying to win at any cost… it’s a rudderless ship, I don’t know who’s in charge… there’s no consistency… this is a desperate move… I just hope for Pakistan’s sake that somehow it works.
Pakistan win the toss and bat
After picking three new spinners and a used pitch, it’s fair to say that’s an important toss for Pakistan to win.
“Yeah,” smiles Ben Stokes, “we would have batted as well.”
Team news
Kamran Ghulam, a 29-year-old with a first-class average of 49, replaces Babar Azam and will make his Test debut. The three recalled spinners are Sajid Khan, Noman Ali and Zahid Mehmood; they come in for Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and the unwell Abrar Ahmed. Including occasional bowlers like Salman Agha, Pakistan have seven spinners in the team.
England make two changes from the first Test. Ben Stokes and Matthew Potts are in; Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson are putting their feet up.
Pakistan Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Sajid Khan, Noman Ali, Zahid Mehmood.
England Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (c), Smith (wk), Carse, Potts, Leach, Bashir.
Read Simon Burnton’s preview
In using the same pitch Pakistan are, counterintuitively, breaking new ground. “We can discuss what we think it’s going to do, but we won’t really know until a day or a session has been played on it,” said Ben Stokes, who has never seen the like and no idea what to expect. “You’d like to think it will offer spinners more than it did last game. I’m not sure the bowlers will like it, but you can still see the footmarks from the last Test. Who knows what’s going to happen?”
Preamble
The more things stay the same, the more they change. Pakistan and England are back at the Multan Cricket Stadium for the second Test, playing on the same surface as last week, but Pakistan are hoping for a completely different ball game. They have recalled three spinners with a combined age of 105 and are gambling that the dead pitch of the first Test will come dramatically to life like a slasher movie villain.
It’s quite a gamble, but maybe Pakistan don’t have much left to lose. They’ve been beaten in their last six Tests, equalling their worst-ever run, and responded to defeat in the first Test by leaving out arguably their three best players: Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. If they’re not at rock bottom, they’re certainly in the same postcode.
Pakistan are in such a mess, in fact, that it feels inevitable they will rout England to square the series. There’s are few teams in world sport who are more dangerous when they are in complete disarray, and Pakistan will aim to play with the freedom of the cornered tiger.
England have also made changes, with the fit-again Ben Stokes and Matthew Potts replacing Chris Woakes and Gus Atkinson. Stokes will bowl a bit in an all-Durham pace attack that also includes Brydon Carse, the man who drew the short straw and will have to go again on that thing, in that heat.
It’s common for white-ball games to be played on used pitches. But nobody can remember it happening in a Test and anything is possible over the next few days. For all we know, by days nine and ten the ball might be turning backwards. Mind the cracks.
