Pakistan reaches 298-3, England succeeds to remove centurions Shafique and Haq

• Will Jacks, bowling an off-spinner, gets rid of Shafique for 114 runs
• Jack Leach, bowling left-handed, had Haq for 121 runs
• To avoid being forced to follow on, Pakistan still has to score another 160 runs

Pakistan had reached 298-3 at lunch on the third day of the opening Test in Rawalpindi when England spinners took off Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq after they had made centuries. The match was being played between England and Pakistan.

Will Jacks, bowling off-spin, got rid of Shafique for 114 runs, while Jack Leach, bowling left-arm off-breaks, got Haq for 121 runs.

After England finished with 657 on Friday, their best total ever against the host team, Pakistan still needs to score another 160 runs in order to avoid being forced to follow on.

Even though three wickets were taken in the first session on Saturday, the Rawalpindi Stadium surface, which has received a lot of criticism, did not offer much assistance to the bowlers.

At the half, Babar Azam, who was captaining the team, had 28 runs on the board, and Saud Shakeel had not yet scored.

Azhar Ali was dismissed by Leach after being caught leg-before on 27, but he may have been dismissed for a lower score if Zak Crawley hadn’t missed a clear opportunity to his left at leg slip off the bowling of James Anderson in the first over of the morning.

As a result of Shafique and Haq’s hundreds, for the first time in the 146-year history of the Test cricket format, the openers for both teams reached three figures in the first innings of their respective matches.

In addition to being the first time in Test history that two opening partnerships of 200 runs or more were made, their 225-run opening stand is a Pakistan record against England. It is also the first time in Test history that two 200-plus opening partnerships were made, following Crawley and Ben Duckett’s 233-run partnership for the travellers.

Shafique, who had been on 89 when play began for the day, was the first to reach three figures with a quick single off Joe Root. Pakistan had begun the day on 181 without having lost a wicket.

After beginning the session on 90, Haq completed his century by hitting the same bowler for a boundary and bringing the score to 100.

They have now each achieved three figures in a test match on the ground where they are playing, making it three hundreds in a row there. They previously did so against Australia in March of this year.

This will be England’s first series in Pakistan in almost 17 years, and it will consist of three matches.

The Rawalpindi pitch has received a lot of negative feedback, and the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja, has referred to it as a remnant from “the dark ages.”

Raja, a former captain of the national team, stated that he was “not happy at all” about the condition of the ground, which he acknowledged was “not a fantastic advert” for test cricket.

He told the reporters, “We live in the dark ages of pitches in Pakistan,” adding, “it’s embarrassing for us, especially if you have a cricketer as chairman.” He was referring to the state of the playing surfaces in Pakistan.

During the match between Pakistan and Australia that took place on the same surface in March of this year, a total of 1,187 runs were made while just 14 wickets were lost. The match ended in a dull draw.

Ranjan Madugalle, a match referee for the International Cricket Council, deemed Rawalpindi to be “below ordinary,” and he also deducted a point from the team for their performance there.

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