Saud Shakeel Dominates Spin with Record Test Average

Left-hand batsman Saud Shakeel played a steady hand in the first inning of the currently ongoing first Test between Pakistan and England in Multan scoring a solid 82 off 177 deliveries before edging a deceptive Shoaib Bashir to Joe Root waiting at slip.

Following this handy innings, Saud Shakeel has risen in a unique ranking. The batsman now stands fifth in a table of highest averages against spin, among all players since the turn of the century.

Kamindu Mendis leads the pack with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Adam Voges, and Andy Flower being ahead with spin averages of 177.67, 114.67, 105.67, and 104.64 respectively.

Shakeel now has a spin average of 97.8, making him the highest-ranked Pakistani on the list, ahead of the steady yet often-overlooked Fawad Alam, who managed a spin average of 81.

Shakeel’s innings have also been Pakistan’s best on the second day of the ongoing test, with Pakistan currently at 491 for 8 at the time of writing. Pakistan has looked dead set on driving up the score as high as possible and looks unlikely to issue a premature declaration similar to what happened in the previous series against Bangladesh.