Sports Desk
Southampton: Day 3 of the second Test between Pakistan and England has been abandoned without a ball being bowled due to bad weather.
Heavy rain and bad light dominated the third day as both the teams desperately waited for the play to resume but it didn’t happen.
According to the current situation of the match, Pakistan are 223-9 with Mohammad Rizwan and Naseem Shah present at the crease.
Rizwan shined on day 2 after he rescued Pakistan and took them to a fighting total. The right-handed batsman defied all odds and scored 60 not-out to drive Pakistan to post 223-9 before bad light abandoned second day’s play.
Resuming at 126-5, Pakistan’s batting was not different than the other day as they kept on losing wickets after regular intervals.
Babar Azam and Rizwan added 32 runs to their 38 runs partnership on day 2 before Stuart Broad removed Babar who fell just three runs short to his fifty.
Thereafter, Rizwan carried the inning for Pakistan by handling the English bowlers with keeping the tail-enders on the other end most of the time. Meanwhile, Yasir Shah lost his wicket for 5, Shaheen Shah Afridi for naught and Mohammad Abbas for 2.
Rizwan 60 not-out remained at the crease with Naseem Shah scoring just a run.
Earlier, Pakistan struggled at 126-5 before rain stopped play and later on bad light abandoned opening day.
After winning the toss, Pakistani skipper Azhar Ali took a surprising decision to bat on a green wicket. An early wicket of Shan Masood on just 6 runs put the tourists under immense pressure. Masood, who scored fighting 156 runs in the opening Test, trapped in legs off James Anderson.
Abid Ali and Azhar Ali carried the inning for Pakistan quite well as the right-handed duo scored 72 runs together. Anderson was again there to produce a breakthrough for Pakistan as he sent back skipper Azhar for 20.
Abid fought hard and scored 60 off 111 balls but couldn’t continue long as Sam Curran did the job for the home side by removing the opener. Asad Shafiq once again failed to score as the veteran batsman managed to add just 5 runs to the team’s total.
Fawad Alam, who was making a Test comeback after 11 years, was able to play just four balls and went back to the pavilion for naught.
