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In Multan, the end of a four-year drought was long overdue and not an illusion. Shan Masood has talked a fine game in his first year as Pakistan’s captain, but he entered this series knowing that his position would be viewed as untenable unless he performed with the bat. After five defeats in a row, during which his lifetime average stayed below thirty.
This was the strongest reply Masood could have hoped for. In August 2020, he appeared to have finally mastered Test cricket when he struck 156 in Manchester. It was his third consecutive hundred, albeit spaced out over an eight-month span. But he had not managed a single score above 60 in his 27 innings since then.
The fact that Masood focused just as much on “how” as “how many” was perhaps the most remarkable feature of his 151. Once a stern, unimpressive player who would plod along at a strike rate around forty, Masood demonstrated to his squad how he wanted them to bat, putting pressure on England’s seamers and going straight after teenage off-spinner Shoaib Bashir.
Without a review, things would have been drastically different. During Brydon Carse’s first spell on his Test debut, Masood appeared hurried by the added pace and had barely beaten him for four to reach sixteen before being out leg before wicket. He was justified, though, in challenging Kumar Dharmasena’s on-field call, as Hawk-Eye verified the ball had pitched outside leg stump.
Masood has admitted that during England’s two-year tour of Pakistan, his eyes were opened, and he has been inspired by their aggressive style of play. After serving as the captain for the first two Tests in that series, he played in the third, calling England on Sunday “pioneers” whose manner “has had an effect on the world”.
Masood has undoubtedly been impacted by it, as seen by his methodical removal of Bashir. In Bashir’s second over, Masood looked for an opening to attack following a convincing LBW call. He charged down to hack Bashir through midwicket, then used his feet again to throw him back over his head on the next delivery.
He expressly targeted a “mammoth partnership” early in his stand with Shafique. “The way we played, the way we put some scoreboard pressure on them, the way we kept running hard and made sure that we scored at 4.5-5 [per over] – that’s an important thing. If we would have just set up shop and tried to defend our way through the day, I don’t think we would have had 328 on the board.”
Masood made it through a few shady moments from Gus Atkinson, such as a gloved short ball that missed Jamie Smith and a top-edged pull that went just over the long-leg fielder. Nevertheless, he was moving quickly and confidently towards three figures; his century, which he hit off 102 balls, was Pakistan’s fastest in ten years.
In the intense afternoon heat, he faltered, giving Pope a half-chance at 133 and cramping up on 146 when Jack Leach was reverse-swept for four. It was a modest conclusion to a good innings that lasted four and a half hours and was the second-highest of Masood’s Test career when he was dismissed, chipping a low chance back to Leach.
A Test tour’s first day is special since it offers the chance to establish the tone for the next days. Masood’s optimism reflected this, relieving himself of some of the load and placing it on England’s bowlers instead. Although Pakistan’s 328 for 4 set the tone for the series, it couldn’t quite surpass England’s 506 for 4 in Rawalpindi two years earlier.