The first Test of the three-match series between Pakistan and England got underway in Rawalpindi on the stipulated schedule despite the stomach bug problem in the visitors’ camp on December 1. This was the first Test between the two sides in Pakistan for 17 years.

Ben Stokes started on a good note as he won the toss and chose to bat first on a flat-looking surface at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. This decision of his proved to be a great one as England openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett went after the Pakistani bowlers.

While Liam Livingstone and Will Jacks debuted for England, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ali, Saud Shakeel, and Zahid Mahmood made their Test debuts for Pakistan.

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And the inexperience in the bowling was on display as Zak Crawley raced off to his fifty in just 38 balls and Duckett made his fifty in 50 balls. Crawley continued his aggressive batting and reached his century in 86 balls, while Duckett followed suit reaching his century in 105 balls.

It was a complete annihilation of Pakistani bowlers as Crawley and Duckett added 233 runs in 35.4 overs before Duckett fell to Zahid Mahmood for 107 runs (15 fours). Mahmood then accounted for Joe Root, who made 23 runs and Haris Rauf took his first Test wicket when he castled Crawley for 122 runs (21 fours).

This left England 286/3 in 46 overs as the visiting team scored well over 6 runs per over scoring rate and Pakistani bowlers looked pedestrian.

When they got out, Pakistan took a sigh of relief, but their joy was shortlived as Ollie Pope took over the hammering duties and reached his century in 90 balls, hitting 14 fours in his knock. 

At the time of writing this piece, England had made 422/3 in 66.1 overs.

The cricket fraternity was in shock seeing the run rate at which England was scoring their runs against Pakistan and lauded the new regime of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum for giving the freedom to their batters to do so.

Here are the tweets: