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Malik became only the fifth player to hit three figures on his return to Test cricket after missing at least 40 matches and was there at the end with Asad Shafiq, who was dropped on 10 by Bell in the penultimate over. With the pitch no particular rough, the two right-handers were happy to step out and play the inside-out shots to the spinners.
That was sweet relief after the labours of the first five sessions.
Credit to Mark Wood for summoning every ounce of energy in this sapping heat to bowl a surprise short-ball. Malik making the utmost use of the reprieve he got early on in the innings and is comfortably batting on 167. Must be so deflating for the bowler.
Malik has now batted for 230 deliveries and mixed caution with aggression.
Rashid did respond by beating the outside edges of both Shafiq and Malik in the same over with sharp legbreaks out of the rough. ‘He has his head in his hands in the changing room, ‘ said Broad.
“It is something we do monitor in training, but it seems to be that in the last six or seven months it has crept in a bit more”. Thanks to spinning wizard Saeed Ajmal (24 wickets) and Abdul Rehman (19 wickets), Pakistan crushed the then world number one Test team in a ruthless manner. Shafiq too has achieved his 8th Test ton and will now look to launch an attack on the English bowlers.
After Pakistan announced that lynchpin leggie Yasir Shah would miss out in the UAE capital it was the flawless opportunity for England to make a statement and put Pakistan on the racks while Shah’s absence was still raw.
Alastair Cook hatched a successful plan to get rid of Pakistan’s new all-time leading runscorer Younus Khan, caught by himself at short mid-on off Broad.
“It could have been a better day, but if we use the new ball well tomorrow we’re in a decent position”. They are aware, if they can negate Anderson and Broad, then there’s truck loads of runs for the taking. Going to be a long day for the fielding side.
Broad believes England did a lot right, as well as three obvious things wrong, on a predictably taxing opening day after Pakistan won the toss.
Broad opined England were positive throughout the day but was disappointed that they were unable to fully capitalise on the chances they had. English bowlers are having a hard time in breaking the partnership which is scoring runs a good pace now. It was the simplest of chances but Bell dropped it.
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Pakistan made just 28 runs in the first hour, but gained a few momentum in the second with the introduction of spin in the form of Rashid, who had given away 29 runs in his first six overs without posing much danger.
