PACKAGE vs TIRE: Pakistan’s Saud Shakeel’s batting average saw a major boost after a superb century against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Thursday, becoming the second highest among current Test batsmen with a minimum of 10 Test innings. Shakeel achieved this feat in the first Test against Bangladesh.
In the first innings, Shakeel hit 141 runs off 261 balls. His composed batting consisted of nine well-placed fours and the runs came at a strike rate of 54.02.
Shakeel raised his Test batting average to 65.17, the second highest among current Test batsmen who have played a minimum of 10 innings. His batting average is higher than that of great batsmen such as Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli, regarded as three of the best players of the modern era, according to the ICC.
In the all-time batting average lists, with a minimum of 20 innings played, Shakeel is at number two in batting average statistics, below legendary Australian batsman Donald Bradman, who boasts a brilliant average of 99.94.
Now, in 20 innings, Shakeel has completed his 1000 Test runs, equalling batsman Saeed Ahmed’s record and becoming the fastest Pakistani batsman to reach the milestone. Both of them completed this milestone in 11 Tests and 20 innings.
In 11 Test matches and 20 innings, Shakeel has scored 1108 runs at an average of 65.17, with a best score of 208*. He has scored three centuries and six fifties in his brief, but extremely promising Test career so far.
Shakeel has the most runs by an Asian batsman in the first 20 innings of his Test career, the other Asian players to have reached 1,000 runs or more in this span are Mayank Agarwal (India), Saeed Ahmed (Pakistan), Cheteshwar Pujara (India), Yashasvi Jaiswal (India) and Vinod Kambli (India).
Coming into the match, Bangladesh won the toss and put Pakistan in to bat first. After Pakistan struggled at 16/3 with the loss of their top order, including captain Babar Azam for a duck, Saim Ayub (56 off 98 balls, with four boundaries and a six) lent support to Shakeel to get Pakistan back on the winning track with a 98-run partnership. Then a 240-run partnership with Mohammed Rizwan (171* off 239 balls, with 11 fours and three sixes) and a cameo from Shaheen Shah Afridi (29* off 24 balls, with a four and two sixes) took Pakistan to a big score of 448/6.
Hasan Mahmud (2/70) and Shoriful Islam (2/77) were the best bowlers for Bangladesh. Bangladesh finished the second day at 34/1.
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