Pakistan vs England 1st Test Azam becomes seventh centurion in high-scoring England Test

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam joined teammates Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq Saturday in scoring a century –- the seventh of the match following England's earlier four -- as the first Test looked headed for a draw in Rawalpindi.

Match Summary

Pakistan vs England, 1st Test, England tour of Pakistan

Pakistan *499/7 (136 ov)

England 657/10 (101 ov)

Day Break : Day 3 Pakistan trail by 158 runs

Scorecard

Centuries for @babarazam258, @ImamUlHaq12 and @imabd28 as we trail by 158 runs.#PAKvENG | #UKSePK pic.twitter.com/JN5iLdCzdL

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 3, 2022

Azam cracked a boundary towards cover off opposition skipper Ben Stokes to reach his eighth century off 126 balls, studded with 13 boundaries.

Pakistan, at 499-7, avoided the follow-on in reply to England's mammoth first innings total of 657.

Shafique, 89 overnight, was the first to three figures earlier with a sharp single off Joe Root, while Haq -- who started the session on 90 -- followed with a boundary off the same bowler.

They both now have three Test centuries and successive hundreds at the venue, having also reached three figures against Australia in March this year.

Haq scored a ton in both innings against Australia, while Shafique scored a century in the second.

Haq was eventually out for 121, and Shafique 114.

Zak Crawley (122), Ben Duckett (107), Ollie Pope (108) and Harry Brook (153) scored centuries for England in their first innings.

The Rawalpindi pitch has been heavily criticised, with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja calling it a relic of "the dark ages".

England Fall of wickets: 1-233 (Ben Duckett - 35.4 ov), 2-235 (Zak Crawley - 36.5 ov), 3-286 (Joe Root - 45.6 ov), 4-462 (Ollie Pope - 70.5 ov), 5-515 (Ben Stokes - 75.6 ov), 6-539 (Liam Livingstone - 81.1 ov), 7-576 (Harry Brook - 83.4 ov), 8-641 (Will Jacks - 95.2 ov), 9-649 (Ollie Robinson - 98.2 ov), 10-657 (James Anderson - 100.6 ov)

Pakistan Fall of wickets: 1-225 (Abdullah Shafique - 65.4 ov), 2-245 (Imam ul Haq - 70.1 ov), 3-290 (Azhar Ali - 80.5 ov), 4-413 (Saud Shakeel - 113.4 ov)

Playing XIs

PAKISTAN - Abdullah Shafique, Imam ul Haq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (C), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Agha Salman, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ali-II, Zahid Mahmood

ENGLAND - Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (WK), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (C), Liam Livingstone, Will Jacks, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson

Match Details

Date - 2022-12-01 05:00 AM

Venue - Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi

Toss - England won the toss & elected to bat

Umpires - Ahsan Raza, Joel Wilson

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