“An athlete has to face challenges and endure failures,” Shafique said. “I am grateful to the team management and the captain for trusting me and giving me a fair run. You face a lot of mental challenges and a lot of doubts, but you have to overcome everything and perform.”

“Saim (Ayub) scored two 50s in the last two Tests. If we had dropped him after the first test, this would have happened to me; “That’s not nice,” he said. “When I was out of the team for two years, I averaged over 60 in List A cricket but Imam (ul-Haq-) and Fakhar (Zaman) performed consistently well. I didn’t complain about not being selected because I knew the competition was high. When the coach supported the players, they did the right thing.

However, Shafique knows that the Pakistan team’s endurance ultimately had its limits. Since he scored 100 in the first Test against England two years ago, he averaged 24.57 in 21 innings; He passed 30 only five times and made one hundred and half centuries. With a difficult tour of South Africa looming over the holidays, he knew he had to rehabilitate his captain.

“It was a very important day as the first of the series,” Shafique said. The whole team understood how important it is to set the tone beforehand because that’s how the team plays afterwards. Taking the wicket on a fresh pitch with the new ball is a challenge but the partnership between me and Shan has given the team a big boost.”

After Ayub fell early, Pakistan might have feared another Test day with the bat, but Masood passed the attack to the England bowlers while Shafique happily played second fiddle. As the balance began to tilt in Pakistan’s favor, there were glimpses of Shafique’s style and panache; He added to his half-century with a six and went from 94 to 100 with perhaps the best shot of the day, an elegant gallop forward to drive Jack Leach into the long billboards.

“Due to this extreme heat in Multan, it is a challenge to bat for long. But you can’t make excuses and keep trying to do what is asked of you. It depends on how well you use your opportunity. It’s not just that batsman that matters, it’s the whole team that is confident when you perform well.

Pakistan seems to have never lost its faith in Shafique. As the England bowlers struggled in two training sessions in Multan, Shafique demonstrated why.