The second Test match between Pakistan and England begins on Tuesday, just a few days after one of the most remarkable opening matches of the series we have ever seen concluded in Multan, the venue for game two of the scheduled three.
England won the opening match in amazing fashion and they have the chance to seal the series with a game to spare if they come out on top here. Pakistan have to regroup and win this second game if they are to force a decider.
Pakistan
When they had posted 556 in the first innings of the series opener, Pakistan could have been forgiven for thinking that the least they would have got out of the match was a draw even though they had the better part of three days remaining to try and force something. They quickly lost control of their grip of the contest though and needed to stand tall in the third innings of the match to secure that draw. That never looked like happening and despite that monster first innings score they succumbed to an innings defeat.
It would be a little harsh to criticise the Pakistan bowlers on what was a complete road for the duration of the innings that they bowled, and they were a bowler down for some of that effort as well, but the fielding certainly can be picked apart because on a track where creating chances was nigh on impossible, they spurned way too many. Their batting looks like it is complete shot whenever there is any pressure on it and that isn’t a good place to be either.
England
You have to give a lot of credit to England for winning that opening match. Having conceded 550 in the first innings the majority of teams, if not all of them, would have been focused on securing a draw and living to fight another day in the series. That wasn’t how England went about it though. They were still looking at finding a way to win the game at all times and after an insanely good batting effort they got into a position to win, an opportunity that they converted.
England won’t have wanted to concede 550 but when you consider the wicket they were bowling on there is actually a case to be made that they kept their opponents to a total which was actually under par as incredible as that seemed. By winning that first game from the position that they were in, England will already have Pakistan thinking about where they need to be to win this second game and you wonder if they will push harder which will play into the hands of England.
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Team News
Pakistan have made changes to their squad for the second and third Tests and they have surprisingly chopped Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi from their setup for the remainder of the series. Kamran Ghulam will debut while Noman Ali and Zahid Mehmood come in.
Ben Stokes appears to have recovered from the injury which kept him out of the opening game and he will return to the side for this one. He comes in for Chris Woakes while Matthew Potts replaces Gus Atkinson in the other change.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets this week with the first of them being on the performance line for Joe Root. At 115.5 you could argue that the line is a little on the high side and ordinarily I might agree but he has just scored 262 on this very pitch and should be coming in full of confidence as a result of that. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he covers this total with the bat, especially if England bat twice, but all the talk is we are on a used pitch so that the Pakistan spinners can come into play and with Ben Stokes likely to only bowl at a minimum amount you would imagine Root will bowl a few overs in this match, especially in the second innings. He took a wicket in just seven overs in the opening game. He also took a catch in that too so he might well score outside of with the bat which brings the over firmly into play.
The other bet I like is for Jack Leach to be the leading England bowler in the first innings. He would have won this bet in both innings of the opening game and with the pitch a used one and expected to really favour the spinners once the early moisture has gone out of it you would think that England’s premier spinner from the first game will enjoy a lot of success here. England are only going in with two main spinners and while Root will bowl some overs you would have to think it is between Leach and Shoaib Bashir, especially if England bowl second. I’ll take the more experienced man here.
Tips
Back J.Root’s Performance – Over 115.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back J.Leach Top England Bowler for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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