Both teams had announced their lineups before of time, with Aamer Jamal, Naseem Shah, and Shaheen Afridi returning for Pakistan.
Toss Pakistan opted to bat against England
In an attempt to snap a losing streak at home dating back to 2021, Pakistani skipper Shan Masood chose to bat after winning the toss in Multan. There was still a hint of green on the surface, but England’s inexperienced assault will have a steep learning curve on a scorching day that might reach 40C.
After losing every Test match since taking over as captain late last year, Masood acknowledged that “we’ve been in winning positions and not won from there,” which has caused some hurt in the Pakistan cricket community as well as in the camp. Their last match, which took place at home against Bangladesh in August, resulted in a 2-0 loss.
Ben Stokes was still recovering from his injury, and Ollie Pope captained England once more. Though he acknowledged that he had also decided to bat, he continued, “I think there’s a little bit of moisture in the pitch so hopefully we can make use of that early.”
Every team had pre-announced their starting eleven. All-rounder Aamer Jamal was cleared to return from injury, but Pakistan called up Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah after they were excluded from the second Test match against Bangladesh. Salman Ali Agha is also capable of contributing, although Abrar Ahmed, who made his debut against England two years ago with great effect, takes care of the spin chores.
Eight weeks after he tore his hamstring while playing in the Hundred, England decided to take a cautious approach to Stokes’ fitness, which means Chris Woakes will play in his first foreign Test match since March 2022. With Brydon Carse making his Test debut and Gus Atkinson playing in just his sixth Test match, he heads an inexperienced seam attack. While everything is going on, Jack Leach makes his first appearance after suffering an injury during the winter tour of India, which cost him a spot as the number-one spinner on Somerset’s team to Shoaib Bashir.
Pakistan: 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Shan Masood (capt), 4 Babar Azam, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Ali Agha, 8 Aamer Jamal, 9 Abrar Ahmed, 10 Naseem Shah, and 9 Shaheen Afridi.
England: 1 Joe Root, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Ollie Pope (captain), 2 Ben Duckett, 4 Joe Crawley, 5 6 Jamie Smith (weekly), 7 Chris Woakes 8 Shoaib Bashir, 9 Brydon Carse, 10 Jack Leach, and 11 Gus Atkinson.
