ENG VS PAK: Live Scores and Highlights of Day 1

English batters began their innings as dusk fell in the City of Lights, and by the time play was through, they were seven for one, with Zak Crawley out for a duck. After Liam Livingstone suffered a knee injury in the first Test match at Rawalpindi, the tourists were without a wrist spinner for the entire series. However, Ahmed concluded the day with two wickets for 89 runs across three stints.

With only three Leicestershire first-class games under his belt, the 18-year-old needed some time to find his line and length after entering the lunch break with statistics of five overs for 37 runs, but he returned to the field after the break with much more maturity.

Saud Shakeel, a Pakistani hitter, was skillfully set up by Ahmed for his maiden wicket before being successfully caught by Ollie Pope at the short leg. It was a first look at the potential that Stokes and the head coach had mentioned. Faheem Ashraf has trapped lbw for just four runs during the evening session, and after a review, the DRS upheld the ruling, leaving Pakistan on 237 for seven. This was Ahmed’s second wicket

However, Ben Foakes, a returning expert wicketkeeper, displayed superb wicketkeeping to secure the crucial wicket of Babar Azam. Foakes, benched for the Multan Test in favour of batter-wicketkeeper Pope, dove forward to take a toss before using deft glovework to whip the bails off before Pakistan’s skipper passed the crease. Ahmed was interesting and bowled very crucial overs on day 1 and was successful in getting two wickets. With Pakistan falling from 162 for four to 304 as the sun set in Karachi, England quickly took the final three wickets. Jack Leach finished the day with four for 140 from 31 overs.

In Pakistan’s innings, only Babar (78) and Agha Salman (56) attained half a century despite wickets frequently falling all day.