ENG VS PAK 2nd Test l Rain-interruptions caused batting collapse: Abid Ali

Then the innings began to unravel as rain interrupted play - lunch was brought forward and soon after Azhar Ali was dismissed by Jimmy Anderson, taking his Test career wicket haul to 592.

Southampton: Talismanic Pakistan opener Abid Ali has expressed that the rain interruptions on the first day of the second Test against England at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton on Thursday caused the Pakistan team's batting collapsed. Pakistan are trailing 1-0 in the three-match series, won the toss and elected to bat.

Abid Ali

Shan Masood, who made 156 in the first innings of the opening Test, was dismissed in the third over for one, but Abid Ali and skipper Azhar Ali put on 77 for the second wicket, taking advantage of some poor England fielding in the slips.

ENG VS PAK

ENG VS PAK

While talking about Pakistan's batting collapse Abid Ali said,"We won the toss and we wanted to bat first with a positive mind and we wanted to post a good total, but the rain interruptions didn't go well for us and it was challenging at that time to go in and out. So, the wicket is good for batting and it was a good decision to bat for us."

Abid Ali

Then the innings began to unravel as rain interrupted play - lunch was brought forward and soon after Azhar Ali was dismissed by Jimmy Anderson, taking his Test career wicket haul to 592.

"Anderson is one of the highest class bowlers in the world and I took it as a challenge to play against him and I tried my very best to play against him and I just think he's one of the best bowlers in the world. This is my first time on a tour of England and the preparation has been good, this last month-and-a-half from the coaches, Misbah (Misbah ul-Haq, head coach and chief selector), Younis (Younis Khan, batting coach) and Shahid Aslam (assistant coach) and I hope I do well in England and right now it's very challenging, but I'll do my best to adapt to the conditions."

Abid Ali made 60 before he was also caught in the slips and Pakistan lost three wickets for 24 runs inside six overs.

The play was eventually called off with the scoreboard reading 120 for 5.

Anderson's 2-35 was the pick of the England attack, but Stuart Broad (1-31), Sam Curran (1-23) and Chris Woakes (1-26) all made contributions with the ball.