A viral video of Joe Root shining the ball on Jack Leach’s bald head is all the rage on social media. The instance caught everyone’s eye as the incident happened during the 72nd over of Pakistan’s innings when the cameras panned on Root, the former England captain, taking the ball and rubbing it on Leach’s bald head. This triggered hoars of laughter from the commentators.
Meanwhile, one of them mentioned how Root can’t use saliva on the ball due to Covid-era rules and therefore had to use the sweat on Leach’s bald head just to shine the ball. You can watch the full incident here.
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Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Test is already turning out to be a run fest where teams have scored an excess of 800 runs already. With the pitch looking a highway, the batters are only expected to dominate proceedings.
England spinners removed Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq after they scored centuries Saturday as Pakistan reached 298-3 at lunch on the third day of the opening Test in Rawalpindi.
Off-spinner Will Jacks dismissed Shafique for 114, while left-armer Jack Leach had Haq for 121.
Pakistan still need another 160 runs to avoid follow-on after England finished with 657 Friday, their highest total ever against the home team.
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Despite three wickets falling in Saturday’s first session, the much-criticised Rawalpindi Stadium pitch offered little to the bowlers.
At the break, skipper Babar Azam was on 28 and Saud Shakeel yet to score.
Azhar Ali was trapped leg-before by Leach on 27, but he could have gone more cheaply had Zak Crawley not dropped a sharp chance to his left at leg slip from pacer James Anderson’s first over of the morning.
The centuries by Shafique and Haq meant for the first time in 146 years of Test cricket the openers of both teams reached three figures in the first innings.
Their 225-run opening stand — a Pakistan record against England — is also the first time in Test history that two 200-plus opening partnerships were made, following Crawley and Ben Duckett’s 233-run partnership for the visitors.
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