ENG Vs PAK, 2nd Test: Pakistan Bat First Against England, Fawad Alam Returns After 11 Years

Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam returns to Test cricketer after almost 11 years as the visitors opted to bat first against England at the Rose Bowl, Southampton in the second of the three-match series. (More Cricket News)

Alam, 34, last played a Test match against New Zealand at Dunedin in November 2009. The left-handed batsman made his Pakistan debut in July the same year.

In between, he has 88 Test matches, which is the second-biggest gap between two outings for Pakistan, behind only Younis Ahmed, who missed 104 between 1969 and 98.

By duration, Ahmed's also a world record - 17 years and 111 days. But the world record for most misses still belongs to Gareth Batty of England - 142 matches, from June 2005 to October 2016.

Alam replaced Shadab Khan in the playing XI.

We are making one change as Fawad Alam comes in place of Shadab Khan. #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/yttyCB9U8w

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) August 13, 2020

Pakistan captain Azhar Ali won the toss and opted to bat.

The hosts, who won the series opener in Manchester, two changes with Zak Crawley and Sam Curran coming in place of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer.

We have lost the toss and will bowl first here in Southampton! ðŸ¦ÂðŸ¦ÂðŸ¦Â#ENGvPAK

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 13, 2020

Playing XIs

England: Rory Burns, Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Root (c), Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (w), Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.

Pakistan: Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah.