Pakistan Vs England, 2nd Test: Pakistan have placed themselves in a strong position at the end of Day 2 of the second Test match between Pakistan and England at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan by restricting England to 239/6.
Spinners stole the show by combining for all six England wickets, as Sajid Khan stole the limelight off Ben Duckett by grabbing four wickets and putting the visitors under serious pressure.
Pakistan close day two on a high with Sajid and Noman shining bright 🏏
England are 239-6, trailing by 127 runs.
Scorecard: https://t.co/sDVJBTiJUN#PAKvENG | #TestAtHome pic.twitter.com/qU7IHfeX8b
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 16, 2024
Day 3 promises to be a spectacle, as bowlers are for sure about to have their say on a re-used and two-paced pitch with low bounce.
Ben Duckett Reflects On His Performance And Overall Day 2
Ben Duckett was the sole bright spot for England in their first innings, as Day 2 produced a two-paced wicket which proved to be tough for the English batters against the spin duo of Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali.
Watch England dugout cheer for Ben Duckett on his century:
The England balcony enjoyed that one 😍👏
💯 @BenDuckett1 pic.twitter.com/PIwQi44EFi
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) October 16, 2024
“I mean, obviously, batting against spin is something I consider a strength of mine. But, yeah, at times, facing the new ball out here can be a bit easier. And, obviously, it was nice to be back opening with Zak, being out there together again. Yeah, I tried. It’s a strength I like to rely on. When you first walk out to bat and there are a lot of fielders around the bat, my approach is to try and get rid of them. I aim to put the bowler under pressure as well,” said Ben Duckett.
“It was one of those situations where I didn’t connect with all the shots, but I was trying to push the fielders back and make things easier for myself. Yeah, obviously, it felt like the ball was spinning. We actually thought it might be tougher against the new ball, but I found that as the ball softened, it actually became a bit harder to play. There wasn’t really a specific game plan we had, but credit to them-they made us work extremely hard for our wickets. I thought they played really well, and we also bowled well. Our seamers ran in and took crucial wickets on a pitch that didn’t offer much for seam bowling, which was impressive,” said the English batter.
“To be honest, throughout the game, they put us under pressure. They held their catches and made it difficult for us at times. We lost a couple of wickets toward the end, but the first hour tomorrow morning will be crucial. If we can get as close to their target as possible, I think the game will move forward, and it’s shaping up to be a good contest. Yeah, I think we can learn from how they bowled, especially the pace of their spinners, who bowled slightly quicker. As the pitch gets older, every half-hour moving forward becomes more crucial,” added the centurion.
“It was a big toss, and the pitch didn’t behave quite as we expected yesterday, but we stuck to our plan and took ten wickets. We know the pitch is going to get harder to bat on, and since we’ll be batting last, that first hour tomorrow is going to be huge. Hopefully, we can bowl like we did in the second innings of the first Test, force a collapse, and set ourselves up for a good game,” he further added.
