Abdullah Shafique Repeats 37-Year-Old History in 1st Innings of Test Match

Pakistan kicked off the two-match Test series against New Zealand today at the National Bank Cricket Arena, Karachi.

The home side got off to a poor start, losing three quick wickets in the opening session of the match with only 48 runs on the board.

Opening batter, Abdullah Shafique, was stumped out in the third over while going down the pitch against the left-arm spinner, Ajaz Patel.

The wicket will go down in history as the third time a Pakistani opening batter has lost his wicket on a stumping in the first innings of a Test match.

The incident also happened for the first time in nearly 37 years, as Saleem Yousuf was the last opener, similarly losing his wicket in 1987.

It is worth noting that in 1976, legendary batter, Majid Khan, was the first Pakistani opener to get stumped out in the first innings of a Test match.

Talking about the match, Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmad performed admirably after the hosts were reduced to 110 for 4 at the start of the opening day.

The all-format captain scored an unbeaten 160 runs off 273 balls, with Sarfaraz 86 runs off 153 balls.

After a nearly four-year absence, the wicket-keeper batter returned to the red-ball side and impressed fans with a fighting half-century.