Pakistani openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq scored undefeated tons against Australia© AFP
The first test match between Pakistan and Australia ended in a draw as the field in Rawalpindi showed no signs of helping the bowlers. The hosts lost just 4 wickets in their two innings, and their openers went unbeaten in the second essay as Pakistan scored 252 runs before stumps were called on the final day. Abdullah Shafique (136*) and Imam-ul-Haq (111*) did not delay as the tired Australian bowlers failed to break through. The Australians themselves scored 459 in the first innings in response to Pakistan’s first innings total of 476/4.
Shafique and Imam thus became the fourth Pakistani opening pair to each register a century in the same innings of a test game. Imam had scored 157 in the first innings, while Shafique had scored 44 runs. Azhar Ali was the other centurion from the first innings, who had scored 185 runs.
Pakistan Cricket Board congratulated the lead-off batters on Instagram.
The first time two Pakistani openers achieved this feat was in 1997 against the West Indies in Karachi when Aamir Sohail (160) and Ijaz Ahmed (151) slammed tons.
promoted
Saeed Anwar (101) and Taufeeq Umar (104) were the second duo to compete against Bangladesh in Multan in 2001. Shan Masood (135) and Abid Ali (174) batted tons against Sri Lanka in Karachi in 2019.
Both Pakistan and Australia players will hope that the wickets in the remaining two Test matches will be of some aid to the bowlers so that the match is more balanced between bat and ball.
Topics mentioned in this article