Pakistan steady after losing Yasir Shah

Pakistan went in for lunch as the happier bunch after scoring 94 runs for the loss of one wicket in the first session on the second day of the fourth Test against England at The Oval. England endured a frustrating session where they dropped two catches. The first one cost them only five runs but the second could potentially hurt them big time.


The hosts were sloppy right from the start, as they missed the chance to dismiss nightwatchman Yasir Shah on the very first ball of the day. Gary Ballance had an opportunity to run him out but didn't remove the bails after assuming the batsman was in. Even though Yasir returned to the crease on time, the bat was in the air. After getting worked over by Stuart Broad in the 10th over, Yasir made England pay by adding some crucial runs with Azhar Ali.

After giving the leg spinner some verbal treatment at the start of the day for the dubious catch, Alex Hales dropped a sitter at gully when Yasir edged Chris Woakes. Thankfully for the home side, Steven Finn removed him in the very next over with Joe Root gobbling up the catch in his second attempt.

The visitors made an interesting decision by promoting Asad Shafiq up the order ahead of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq. Asad, who had registered two ducks at Edgbaston, began in steady fashion and remained unbeaten on 24 during the break. He also had a close shave when an edge just flew past Anderson in the slip cordon.

Azhar, who had entered into a shell early on, finally broke the shackles with back-to-back boundaries off Finn. The very next ball came the big moment when he hit one straight back to the bowler who dropped the chance. The home side will now hope for some reverse swing and more importantly, an improved fielding performance to claw their way back into the contest.

Brief scores: Pakistan 97/2 (Azhar Ali 36*; Stuart Broad 1-23) trail England 328 (Moeen Ali 108; Sohail Khan 5-68) by 231 runs