Former England captain Nasser Hussain applauded England’s display on Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan in Multan, despite giving away 328/4 in 86 overs. The England bowlers were made to toil hard on a lifeless surface as Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood scored hundreds. And, Pope led the team again after Ben Stokes failed to recover in time for the series opener.

“Walking off at 328-4, usually, you are thinking that the game has gone away from us. Actually here, they must be thinking, ‘we did quite well there lads.’ That is the difference between playing at home and playing away from home. If you walk off in England, and the opposition have got 328-4 on the first day, a lot of the time you are out of the game. Here, you are still in the game, and that is a credit,” Hussain said on Sky Sports at the end of the day’s play.

“We were looking for body language, fitness, speeds, coming back with the new ball, and they did all of that. They should be pretty proud of what they achieved. People at home might be thinking Pakistan are in the ascendancy, but you could only do today what they did. You cannot criticize either Pope or the bowlers, they stuck to their task, they gave it everything, that was as tough as it gets for a bowling unit,” Hussain concluded.

However, Pakistan’s run rate for the first two sessions was well over the four runs per over as well. But, England’s bowlers did well later and the hosts scored only 95 runs in the final session at a run rate of 2.79 while losing three wickets as well.