On a fairly gloomy day, fast bowlers from Shan Masood and Pakistan lit up Old Trafford. The 319-ball 156-ball starter Masood drained England’s bowlers and laid the groundwork for a competitive total before his fellow pacers landed the opening shots to leave England reeling 92 of 4 on the stumps. If the indication is anything to go by, Pakistan’s 326 inning total in the first inning already looks daunting, particularly after Joe Root fell to Yasir Shah, the leg spinner, underscoring the formidable attack he has on everything from sewing and stitches up twist.
Exciting as the pacemakers were towards the end of the second night, it was Masood’s slow riffs that made the Pakistani day. Barring the end of his 470-minute marathon, when he threw caution to the wind, he was a model of restraint, avoiding risks and indulgences, embodying the dying art of slow, patient hitting. Every blocked delivery and accumulated run sucked the steam out of England’s bowlers.
His innings were a triumph of character, stamina, and technique and, most of all, a reminder in the age of breakneck speeds that the art of hitting is alive and well.
That no overseas starter since Australian Chris Rogers has faced as many deliveries or scored more runs in the past five years reinforces the value of Masood’s art. And to think that just a couple of years ago, you had a problem with deliveries in the outside aisle.
It is a testament to how you have systematically revised your technique that it seemed safe and almost natural when dealing with that line now.
Leading a comeback
After losing Babar Azam and Asad Shafiq within seven overs of the second day and Mohammad Rizwan shortly thereafter, Masood couldn’t allow himself a fleeting flicker of concentration. Pakistan would have undone all the good work they had done on the first day when James Anderson and Stuart Broad changed course and activated the threat.
And so he wrapped a web of caution around him, blocking and blocking until he could block no more.
He saw three successive maidens in a period where Pakistan only won two races in eight overs.
His discipline was unshakable. Many times, after spending all of his routine tricks, Broad would slip into a tantalizing, full and wide, but he was unfazed. They tried to kill him with gorillas. It did not move. They looked at him and laughed at him, but he wasn’t discouraged.
So determined was he that he completely neglected one of his favorite blows – the back foot strike, which was also his undoing on the previous tour.
In this inning, instead of hitting, he simply directed him backward, with his hands close to his body and firmly on the ball so that it rolled on the ground.
He didn’t reconsider his focus even after completing his fifth hundredth test, possibly the most precious one. It wasn’t until Pakistan began to lose wickets in the clutches that it began to accelerate. Her 105-race association with Shadab Khan was as chaotic as it was exciting. It was equally vital in reversing the momentum as they wreaked havoc on England’s loose bowling alley.
It could be the defining moment of his burgeoning late-career, which has been a start-and-stop journey. Masood was part of the 2008 U19 World Cup and was ranked among the best rookie hitters in the country, before packing his bags at boarding school in England to complete his A level. A year later, he returned home with decent academic grades. Credit, lots of runs on the school circuit, and improved technique honed by former England starter Graeme Fowler, but he realized he was a forgotten man.
Some of his under-19 teammates were already playing test cricket, including Umar Akmal, Ahmad Shehzad, and Mohammad Amir.
Fruit of work
It took him four more years and thousands of sweat-drenched runs before he could reestablish himself in the country’s cricket consciousness. He posted a resolute 75 against South Africa in Abu Dhabi in 2013 but failed to achieve a sustained run on the team or a string of great scores in his portfolio. His career flowed and ebbed, before a bizarre injury to Haris Sohail on the morning of a Test Match at Centurion in 2018 gave him a rare break.
It was probably the last chance to extend his testing career and he made the most of it. He emerged as the best Pakistani rider in the series and steadily improved on unprecedented success. Steady efforts in Australia (it drenched the second-highest number of deliveries, after Yasir Shah) and hundreds against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cemented its place.
And now, after ticking off the most important box on a starter’s résumé, a hundred against Anderson and Broad in England, he can say with pretty certain that he belongs at this stage.
Brief scores: Pakistan 326 at 109.3 overs (Shan Masood 156, Babar Azam 69, Shadab Khan 45; Stuart Broad 3/54, Jorfra Archer 3/59) vs England 92 for 4 in 28 overs (Ollie Pope 46 batting Jos Buttler 15 batting; Mohammad Abbas 2/24).
She is a freelance blogger, writer, and speaker, and writes for various entertainment magazines.