Manchester: Pakistan opener Shan Masood was delighted with his side's performance on day one of the Test series opener vs England.
Pakistan finished the day one of the first Test against England at 139/2 and Masood is hopeful of making the good start count for his side.
At the close of stumps on day one, Babar Azam and Shan Masood were unbeaten for Pakistan at respective scores of 69 and 46 respectively.
Masood has played 152 balls for his unbeaten knock of 46 so far.
"Situationally you always have to look at the team. We always knew that the new ball is going to be a struggle. It's not an easy gig being an opening batsman in this country. But there comes an opportunity to give your team a good start, especially if you opt to bat first," Masood was quoted as saying.
At one stage, Pakistan was left 43/2 with Abid Ali (16) and Azhar Ali (0) back to the pavilion.
Ali was clean bowled by Jofra Archer while Ali was adjudged leg-before wicket on the ball of Chris Woakes.
"I just thought it was very important to take the shine off the ball in the first hour and make it easier for the guys coming in. The ball did a bit off the seam in the first session but as the second session went on, we got into a bit of a scoring mode," Masood said.
"But I think there's a long way to go, both as a team and as an individual, and you want to capitalise on any start you get. So hopefully, tomorrow, we can make this count," he added.
Masood said it was not easy to play amid rain disruptions.
"As a team, being in that stop-start position is not always easy because you have to switch on, switch off, and switch on back again. These are the challenges of Test cricket, especially in England where we all know about the weather," he said.
"We were very happy that we got through that period and hoping that tomorrow, providing the weather is fine, we make a decent start count."
Pakistan has decided to go in with two spinners (Shadab Khan, Yasir Shah) for this match.
The ongoing series between England and Pakistan is a part of the World Test Championship (WTC).
