Saud Shakeel’s half-century in the second Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, propelled him to become the first-ever batter in the history of Test cricket to score a half-century in each of the first seven Tests of his career.
With his astounding consistency, the left-handed batter left behind the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Basil Butcher, Saeed Ahmad, and Bert Sutcliffe, who scored a half-century in each of their first six Tests.
Pakistan were 210/3 in response to Sri Lanka’s 166 when Pakistan’s first match hero Saud Shakeel walked out to bat.
The in-form batter wasted no time adapting to the conditions and soon put on an important partnership for the touring side.
He played a brilliant 57-run knock from 110 deliveries, hitting six boundaries before Asitha Fernando dismissed him in the 81st with Pakistan at 319/4.
With his record-breaking half-century, Saud Shakeel put on an important fourth-wicket partnership with Abdullah Shafique. They added 109 runs to the total which lifted Pakistan to stretch their first-innings lead to 153.
Pakistan, resuming their first innings at an overnight score of 178/2, enjoyed a fruitful opening session of Day 3 despite their captain Babar Azam’s dismissal as the touring side acquired a dominating 107-run lead.
The pair of Babar and Shafique, batting since the last session of the opening day, finally got broken in the early half of day three’s opening session when Prabath Jayasuriya, once again, dismissed Pakistan captain Babar.
The left-arm spinner trapped Babar Azam plumb in front to draw a much-needed success for Sri Lanka while the Pakistan captain fell just 11 short of his half-century.
He scored 39 off 75 deliveries, laced with four boundaries and a six.
Notably, Rain played spoilsport on the second day of the ongoing second Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Only 10 overs of action was possible on an important second day due to persistent downpour.
Pakistan were 178/2 and had a 12-run lead when the rain intervened.
READ: Abdullah’s century strengthens Pakistan’s grip on second Sri Lanka Test