Pakistan’s Raza Ullah, who played his first Test match for the country, has equalled the world record for most sixes on Test debut.
Razaullah delivered a powerful batting performance in the second innings of the Edgbaston Test, hitting nine sixes in his innings.
He has become the joint batter with the most sixes on Test debut in Test cricket.
New Zealand’s Tim Southee is the other player to have hit the most sixes on Test debut. He also smashed nine sixes in his first match against England in Napier in 2008.
In reply to England’s first-innings total of 453 runs, Pakistan scored 449 runs in its second innings, after starting the innings with a deficit of 320 runs and set the hosts a target of 130 runs to win the match in their second innings.
The highlight of the third day’s play was the highly resistant batting by Test debutant Razaullah and Mohammad Abbas at the fall of the ninth wicket. Both played outstanding shots all around the wicket and, for the first time in the series, made the English bowlers look helpless.
For England, Gus Atkinson dismissed three players.
Earlier, on the third day of the third and final ICC Test Championship Test against England at Birmingham’s Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Pakistan resumed its second innings at 54 for two. The overnight unbeaten batters, former Test captain Shan Masood and Azaan Awais, took the score to 125.
The third-wicket partnership between the two left-handed batters ended when substitute wicketkeeper Jordan Cox took a fine catch behind the wickets off Dan Lawrence’s delivery that went down the leg side.
Azaan Awais scored 59 off 84 balls with 10 fours. Captain Babar Azam added 89 runs to the total with Shan Masood for the fourth wicket. The partnership ended when Shan Masood was dismissed after a fine innings of 95. Dan Lawrence took a good catch of the left-handed batter off Atkinson’s bowling.
Shan Masood faced 148 balls and hit 12 fours. Captain Babar Azam scored 76 off 103 balls with 11 fours and one six. Saud Shakeel, who was the top scorer in the first innings, could score only 29 runs in the second innings.
Pakistan not only avoided an innings defeat but also batted for 96.4 overs in its second innings, the longest innings of the series, and crossed the 200-run mark for the first time in the series.
Also Read: Shan Masood surpasses Ramiz Raja, Wasim Akram in Test cricket
