Pakistan vs England: 3 player battles to watch out for in the 2nd Test
England won the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi by 74 runs. It was one of the most celebrated Test wins for England in recent times. It was a testimony to how Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum's management approached red-ball cricket. They were ready to risk losing if that gave them a chance of winning.
Pakistan have now lost three of their last four Tests in Asia. This shows how reliant the team is on their star players - Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan. The second Test is extremely crucial for the hosts if they want to stay in contention for qualification in the World Test Championship final.
Let's take a look at the three potential player battles that may define the course of the second Test in Multan.
#1 Babar Azam vs Ben Stokes
GONE! Ben Stokes gets Babar Azam ☝️
Massive wicket.
#PAKvENG https://t.co/CipdCvt1Hf
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has established himself as one of the best batters in the world. He has also made long strides in the red-ball format in 2022. His calendar year stats read - 801 runs in 11 innings at an average of 72.82. He has scored three centuries and four fifties in this time period.
England's newly appointed skipper Ben Stokes, on the other hand, is one of the finest all-rounders of the era. He has had an impressive record with the ball over the years. He has taken 192 wickets at an average of just below 32 - which is a good record for a fifth bowler in a team like England. He also has a knack for picking up big wickets that turn the course of the game.
Stokes dismissed his counterpart in the fourth innings. He bowled a bouncer, which Babar only managed to tickle to the keeper. The line between good to short-length deliveries tends to bother the best batters in the world, and Babar is no exception.
The battle between the captains will be one to look forward to in this must-win encounter for the hosts.
#2 Joe Root vs Zahid Mahmood
Joe Root is the world's best Test batter at the moment. Post-COVID-19, the former England skipper has amassed 3001 runs at an average of 55 across 33 Tests in varying conditions across the globe. He scored a crucial 73 in the second innings of the Rawalpindi Test, which made the chase tougher for the hosts.
Zahid Mahmood made his Test debut in the first match of this series. He did not have a great game as he returned with match figures of 6/319 in 44 overs. The England batters took him to the cleaners on a pitch that had barely any assistance for the bowlers, particularly spinners.
However, the young wrist-spinner managed to dismiss the English batting stalwart twice in the Test. If the Multan wicket has some help for the spinners, Mahmood might end up causing a bit of trouble for Root.
With Haris Rauf ruled out and Naseem Shah also unlikely to play, there will be more pressure on the spinners to step up in the second Test.
#3 Mohammad Rizwan vs James Anderson
James Anderson got Mohammad Rizwan's wicket in both the innings.
Mohammad Rizwan is certainly one of the top wicketkeeper-batter in the world in the longest format of the game. Since his comeback in 2019 after making his debut way back in 2016, he has been even more consistent. He has scored 1294 runs in 24 Tests at an average of 42.
James Anderson has aged like fine wine. He is currently the third-highest wicket-taker (the highest among fast bowlers) of all time in Test cricket, with 672 scalps to his name. He has raised the bar for his contemporaries by putting in impactful performances in Asian conditions on a regular basis in the past decade.
Anderson got rid of the Pakistan wicketkeeper twice in the last Test. Rizwan flicked it straight to midwicket in the first innings, while in the second innings he edged a delivery outside the off-stump. The latter proved to be an extremely crucial moment in the game. It allowed England to break into the Pakistan tail and wrap up the Test match.
Rizwan will have to bring his A-game forward against the 40-year-old English legend for an exciting battle.