England vs Pakistan: The three most memorable moments from the first Test
The first Test match between Pakistan and England in Rawalpindi will be a game that will be remembered and talked about for years.
Joe Root changed stance and faced the balls as a left-hander.The match was threatened initially, as England’s players had to overcome a mystery virus that spread through the group even to get the game started on time.
And to make things worse, the pitch at Rawalpindi resembled a national highway rather than a competitive strip for Test cricket.
Yet by the end of the game, all anyone could talk about was how well England handled themselves in the game – and how they won it.
Despite that, there were several other memorable moments from the match. Here’s a look at the three most noteworthy ones from this Test.
Joe Root is batting left-handed – Aside from the mountain of runs England piled on during the first innings, everyone remembered Joe Root suddenly deciding to bat as a southpaw.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Joe Root is batting left-handed! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvENG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvENG</a> <a href="https://t.co/iyRamt1IdD">pic.twitter.com/iyRamt1IdD</a></p>— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/WisdenCricket/status/1599326614021582849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Facing right-arm leg spinner Zahid Mahmood, Root decided to do something almost unthinkable for a conventionally brilliant batsman like himself – he changed stance and faced the balls as a left-hander.
It’s fair to say it was a ploy that did not work, as he swept one ball successfully before almost holing out to Naseem Shah in the deep. Even he realized it was a bad idea and ditched it after two balls.
However, full marks must be awarded for at least trying – especially considering this is something you’re likelier to see Ben Stokes think of rather than Root himself.
Leach’s head = ball shiner – The ICC’s clampdown on using saliva to shine the ball during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic has carried on as a full-time rule now, as it is enshrined in the updated regulations that came into effect in October of this year.
Since they found using sweat or saliva to shine the ball had no difference in the amount of movement generated, they chose to stick with this. However, no one could have foreseen Root’s unique way of shining the ball thanks to this rule.
Root ran to spinner Jack Leach, removed his cap and used the sweat from his dome to shine the ball. It led to plenty of laughter on social media, and even Leach wore a somewhat bemused expression as his head was used to polish the ball.
James Anderson, a fine wine – A pitch like the one at Rawalpindi isn’t supposed to bring out the best from a bowler like James Anderson. However, he produced a memorable spell towards the tail-end of the second innings.
With the ball suddenly offering up reverse swing, England smelled blood – and no one got a scent of the potential to go for the kill better than Anderson, who found movement on offer and ran through Pakistan’s lower order.
Having taken no wickets earlier in the innings, Anderson ended with 4-36 in 24 overs. No wonder former India international Suresh Raina dubbed Anderson ‘The GOAT,’ i.e. greatest of all time, on Twitter shortly after that.