Twitter Reactions: Saud Shakeel’s ton helps host extend first innings lead as Pakistan continue their dominance on Day 2

Day 2 of the ongoing third Test between Pakistan and England at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, began with the hosts extending their lead in the game even further. Day 1 ended with Pakistan’s scorecard reading 73/3, with Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel at the crease.

As the day began, the hosts quickly lost their skipper Masood for a score of 26. After Shakeel joined hands with wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and stitched a 52-run stand until the latter found himself walking back after a score of 25. Pakistan’s woes continued as they lost Salman Agha at a brief score of 1, with the scorecard reading 155/6.

Meanwhile, Shakeel carried on the onslaught from one side and brought up a brilliant century. The southpaw departed after an impressive score of 134 runs and laced his innings with, five boundaries. On the other hand, Aamer Jamal departed after adding just 14 runs.

Interestingly, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali stitched a crucial 88-run stand and added the late flourish and added those important runs. While Khan remained unbeaten on 48, Ali missed out on an impressive half-century as he was dismissed on 45 runs. Meanwhile, Rehan Ahmed hammered the final nail in the coffin as he got the wicket of Zahid Mahmood. 

For England, Rehan was the wrecker-in-chief as he claimed four wickets while Shoaib Bashir and Gus Atkinson finished with three and two wickets, respectively.

Also Read: Sajid Khan reveals tactics behind recent six-wicket haul against England on ‘dissimilar’ pitch

As Ben Stokes & Co. came in to bat for the second time in the game, they got off to a subpar start as openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett departed at the scores of 2 and 12 each. Furthermore, Ollie Pope, at the no.3, was dismissed after putting one run to the tally, adding to England’s woes. Dependable batters, Joe Root and Harry Brook had just one task in front of them to not lose any more wickets at the end of the day’s play and they rightfully did the same.

Both will continue batting on Day 3 to reduce the deficit. England ended Day 2 on 24/3 and trailed by 53 runs. For Pakistan, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan picked two and one wickets, respectively.

Here’s how ‘X’ users reacted to Day 2 of the third Test: