Pakistan’s opening batter, Abdullah Shafique, led Pakistan to a historic run chase in the first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka at Galle. The right-hander scored an unbeaten 160 from 408 balls and was awarded player of the match.
With this heroic knock, the stylish opener became the fifth batter in Test history to face more than 400 balls in the fourth innings. He joined England’s Mike Atherton and Herbert Sutcliffe, India’s Sunil Gavaskar, and Pakistan’s Babar Azam on the list.
| Player | Team | Balls |
| Mike Atherton | England | 492 |
| Herbert Sutcliffe | England | 443 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | India | 443 |
| Babar Azam | Pakistan | 425 |
| Abdullah Shafique | Pakistan | 408 |
Meanwhile, the right-handed opener also became the only batter in Test cricket history to face more than 300 balls in the fourth innings multiple times before the age of 23.
Yesterday, Abdullah surpassed legendary Javed Miandad in terms of runs scored for his nation in the first six games. Miandad had 652 runs scored in his first 11 innings, whereas Abdullah has now amassed 720 runs in the same number of innings.
