Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan lambast Multan track, take dig at Masood’s ton

Veteran England batters Kevin Pietersen and Michael Vaughan lashed out the Multan pitch after Pakistan captain Shan Masood and opener Abdullah Shafique sublime centuries on Day 1 of the opening Test match. After losing the Test series to Bangladesh, Pakistan decided to opt for a flat track for the series opener against England but faced criticism straightaway after the English pacers failed to find any assistance from the surface.
Pakistan skipper Shan Masood his first century in four years, while Shafique also ended his rough patch in red-ball cricket as the hosts took control of the game on Monday.
Masood had been under pressure to make runs, with his last hundred coming against the same opponents at Manchester in 2020 — 14 Tests and 27 innings ago.
However, the Multan track drew criticism from Pietersen and Vaughan on social media, who termed it as a ‘graveyard’ and ‘road’.
“That wicket in Multan – bowlers GRAVEYARD!” Pietersen wrote on X.
“Looks like a road in Multan .. Great toss to have won .. also nice to see @shani_official batting in what looks like Padel shoes .. #PAKvsENG,” wrote Vaughan.
Meanwhile, Gus Atkinson got the better of Shafique for 102. Shafique got a reprieve on 35 when he went for a risky single and England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope’s direct throw narrowly missed the stumps. However, eventually, Pope grabbed his catch to send him back to the pavilion.
On the other hand, Masood completed his century into a 150 and was dismissed by Jack Leach for 151. Earlier, Masood was given lbw to Brydon Carse in the debutant seamer’s second over but the batter reviewed the decision and got it overturned after replays confirmed the ball had pitched outside the leg stump. The Pakistan skipper played nearly at a run-a-ball rate and took a single off Chris Woakes to bring up his first test hundred since August 2020.
England were missing their skipper Ben Stokes who is still recovering from hamstring injury. Both teams have picked three fast bowlers and two spinners, hoping that the pitch will offer new ball help to the seamers before taking spin later in the match.