England produced a scintillating display of batting performance in the first Test of the series against Pakistan, scoring 657 in the first innings with four batters slamming centuries. The hosts are also posing a strong reply, with Pakistan openers Abdullah Shafique (114) and Imam-ul-Haq (121) forging a 225-run partnership for the first wicket. On Day 3 of the Test in Rawalpindi, Pakistan continued on their impressive batting performance while England, in a bid to get breakthroughs, tried a rather hilarious tactic.
Ahead of the 73rd over of the match, Joe Root called Jack Leach and shined the ball off his head, as two new batters – Babar Azam and Azhar Ali – were at the crease.
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The commentators were left in splits by Root's ‘ingenious’ tactic; earlier this year, the International Cricket Council had announced a permanent ban on the use of saliva over the ball and while use of sweat was still permitted, Root's out-of-the-box approach went viral on social media.
{{/usCountry}}The commentators were left in splits by Root's ‘ingenious’ tactic; earlier this year, the International Cricket Council had announced a permanent ban on the use of saliva over the ball and while use of sweat was still permitted, Root's out-of-the-box approach went viral on social media.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, England had won the toss and opted to bat in the first Test at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The Rawalpindi pitch saw England racking up a world record 506 runs on the opening day of the Test. Ramiz slammed the surface as "embarrassing" and said that it would take another season for the quality of pitches to improve.
“It is embarrassing for us, especially when you have a cricketer as chairman,” Ramiz said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo during the lunch break on the second day of the Test.
“This is not a good advert for cricket. We are a better cricketing nation than this,” he added.
The pitch quality has become a point of scrutiny, especially since Ramiz took over as PCB chief last year. He promised to bring drop-in pitches to Pakistan. But the progress on this matter has been non-existent despite all the talks around it, with Ramiz decrying the costs of shipping them from foreign countries as prohibitive.