PAK vs BAN: Saud Shakeel equals Pakistan's all-time record after reaching 1000 Test runs

PAK vs BAN: Saud Shakeel equals Pakistan’s all-time record after reaching 1000 Test runs

Pakistan vs Bangladesh Test: Saud Shakeel equalled Saeed Ahmed's 65-year-old record of the fastest Pakistani batter to score 1000 runs in Test cricket.

Saud Shakeel equals Pakistan’s 65-year-old record. (Photo-AFP)

New Delhi: Saud Shakeel played an important knock to help Pakistan survive an early collapse against Bangladesh in the first innings of the opening Test match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Shakeel also became the joint fastest Pakistan batter to complete 1000 runs in Test Cricket. He reached the milestone in his 20th innings in Tests and equalled Saeed Ahmed’s record for the fastest to score 1000 Test runs for Pakistan. Saeed achieved this milestone in 1959 against Australia.

Pakistan got off to a poor start on the first day of the Test match. Hasan Mahmud dismissed Shafique on just 2 runs and Shoriful Islam removed Shan Masood on 6 runs and Babar Azam on a duck. Shakeel walked out to bat at No.5 when Pakistan was struggling at 16-3. He stitched a partnership with opener Saim Ayub and steadied the ship.

Fastest to 1000 runs for Pakistan

Saud Shakeel – 20 innings

Saeed Ahmed – 20 innings

Sadiq Mohammad – 22 innings

Javed Miandad – 23 innings

Taufeeq Umar – 24 innings

Abid Ali – 24 innings

Abdullah Shafique – 24 innings

Shakeel’s brilliant start to Test career

Shakeel has made a brilliant start to his Test career and quickly established his name in the cricketing world. He made his debut against England in 2022 and has played 12 Test matches since then.

Before the series against Bangladesh, he made 967 runs at an average of 60.43. He also scored two hundreds and six fifties in 19 innings, including a double century against Sri Lanka at Galle last year.

He holds the record of being the first batsman in Test history to score a half-century in each of his first seven Tests, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar and Basil Butcher. Shakeel has also played 15 ODIs for Pakistan and has scored 317 runs at an average of 28.81 and a strike rate of 89.80 with three fifties.

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