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Shan Masood scored his first Test century in four years, in over 1500 days, to lift Pakistan to 233/1 at tea on Day 1 of the first Test against England.
The 34-year-old was unbeaten on 130 and opener Abdullah Shafique was on 94 as the pair put on a brilliant unbroken 225 runs for the second wicket after Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat on Monday (7 October).
Masood had been under pressure to make runs, with his last hundred coming against England at Manchester in 2020 — 14 Tests and 27 innings ago.
He pushed England fast bowler Chris Woakes for a single to complete his fifth Test hundred with two sixes and 11 fours in a dominant display of batting.
It is also the first Test century for a Pakistan captain since December 2022 when Babar Azam scored 161 runs against New Zealand in Karachi.
Since then, Pakistan have played eight Test matches and not seen a skipper raise their bat to celebrate a ton.
England took a wicket in the fourth over when fast bowler Gus Atkinson forced Ayub to glove a shorter ball down the legside to wicketkeeper Jamie Smith with the total on eight.
The visitors thought they had a second wicket when pace bowler Brydon Carse, on debut, trapped Masood in front on 16 and umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave the captain out lbw.
But a review showed the ball had pitched outside the leg stump.
Masood went on the attack against Shoaib Bashir, hitting the off-spinner for four boundaries, before two more off Atkinson took him to his 11th Test fifty.
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