3 minute read

With cricket fans still drawing breath after England's remarkable first Test victory over Pakistan in Rawalpindi, the teams face off again in the second showdown of a three-game series on December 9 at Multan Cricket Stadium.

Harry Brook, in just his second Test match, took the Top Batter honours in the first Test with 240 runs in two innings on what was a very easy pitch to score runs. Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Abdullah Shafique, Imam Ul-Haq and Babar Azam also reached the century mark.

In a tough outing for bowlers, Will Jacks (6-173) and Zahid Mahmood (6-319) took Top Bowler honours for their respective teams, the former very much an outsider in the betting prior to the game.

Despite going 1-0 down in the series, Pakistan are slight favourites at 7/5 to defeat England in the 2nd Test (7/4) with the draw at 13/5.

If a similar pitch is provided for the second Test, then the batter markets will be the place to look. For Pakistan, Babar Azam is 12/5 to score a century in either inning, a feat he has achieved in three of his last five games. Abdullah Shafique (10/3) has three centuries as well in the past six games so must also be considered.

For England, the #1 ranked batter in Test match cricket Joe Root is 3/1 to score a century, but the worry is that Root hasn't achieved that mark in his past four games. Still, if the pitch is batter friendly, he'd be hard to bet against at those odds. Ollie Pope to score over 61.5 match runs at 5/6 is extremely backable – he's managed to hit that mark in three of his past four games.

Wicket-taker markets may best be avoided if a similar pitch to the first Test is provided. The Over/Under for James Anderson is 4.5 wickets, but the over is enticing given how he took five wickets on a tough pitch to bowl on in Rawalpindi.

Jack Leach also has O/U set at 4.5 - the under may be the play as he has taken 3, 3, 1, 1 and 1 wickets in his last five matches, although spin-friendly conditions would be a difference matter.

For Pakistan, the lines for Mohammad Ali and Naseem Shah are both set at 3.5. Ali took four wickets in the first Test, but Shah should be the bet here on the over, he has taken 5, 5, 2 and 5 wickets in his last four matches.

Again, a lot relies on the pitch, but the opening lines in the Opening Partnership Total market look very backable. It could be best to take both the overs set at 33.5 for Pakistan (10/11) and 27.5 for England (10/11).