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MIRPUR: Young Pakistan batter Abdullah Fazal achieved a rare milestone during the opening Test against Bangladesh after registering half-centuries in both innings of his debut match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
The left-handed batter, who scored 60 in the first innings, followed it up with another composed fifty in the second innings as Pakistan chased a target of 268 runs.
With the achievement, Fazal became only the sixth Pakistani batter to score 50-plus in both innings of a Test match on debut.
The milestone places the youngster among a distinguished list of Pakistan cricketers who made an immediate impact in red-ball cricket.
Former all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was among the earliest players to achieve the feat after scoring 128 not out and 50 not out against South Africa in Rawalpindi in 1997.
Yasir Hameed later produced one of the finest Test debuts in Pakistan cricket history when he struck 170 and 105 against Bangladesh in Karachi in 2003.
Aggressive batter Umar Akmal also announced himself in style with scores of 129 and 75 against New Zealand in Dunedin in 2009.
Meanwhile, Fakhar Zaman carried his attacking approach into Test cricket by scoring 94 and 66 against Australia national cricket team in Abu Dhabi in 2018.
More recently, opener Abdullah Shafique joined the list after making 52 and 73 against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2021.
Pakistan batters to score 50-plus in both innings on Test debut
Fazal ultimately got out after scoring 66 runs in 113 balls with eleven boundaries. As of this writing, Pakistan have scored 151-5, needing 117 runs to win in the final session.
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