Pakistan's rising star equals batting record held for 65 years
A third Test century saw Saud Shakeel equal a record held since 1959 and Pakistan boost their chances of victory in the first Test against Bangladesh.
Pakistan vice-captain Saud Shakeel equalled a record held outright for 65 years as the Asian side dominated the second day of the opening Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.
Shakeel brought up his third Test century when contributing a score of 141 in Pakistan's total of 448/6 declared, before Bangladesh reached 27 without loss at stumps to leave the match in the balance with three days remaining.
Bangladesh openers see off a testing period of play after Pakistan called for declaration late on Day 2 🙌#WTC25 | 📝 #PAKvBAN: https://t.co/EUbigvmymm pic.twitter.com/gUD0nZ4O7B
— ICC (@ICC) August 22, 2024
Shakeel went past 1000 Test runs during the knock, equalling Saeed Ahmed's record from 1959 to become the joint-fastest Pakistan batter to reach the milestone, with both players having completed this milestone in 11 Tests and 20 innings.
Fastest Pakistan's Men's batters to 1000 Test runs
| PLAYER | TEST INNINGS |
| Saud Shakeel | 20 |
| Saeed Ahmed | 20 |
| Sadiq Mohammad | 22 |
| Javed Miandad | 23 |
| Taufeeq Umar | 24 |
| Abid Al | 24 |
| Abdullah Shafique | 24 |
It also saw Shakeel boost his Test batting average to 65.17, the second-highest among current Test batters with a minimum of 10 Test innings.
Highest Men's Test batting average - Current players (minimum 10 Test innings)
| PLAYER | BATTING AVERAGE |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal (India) | 68.53 |
| Saud Shakeel (Pakistan) | 65.17 |
| Harry Brook (England) | 59.75 |
| Steve Smith (Australia) | 56.97 |
| Kane Williamson (New Zealand) | 54.98 |
Emerging middle-order batter Saud Shakeel is out to make the most of his opportunities with Pakistan at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023
Shakeel received excellent support from veteran Mohammad Rizwan (171*), as the pair put on the 240 runs for the fifth wicket to give Pakistan the ascendancy in the crucial ICC World Test Championship contest.
Pakistan currently sit in sixth place on the World Test Championship standings and will be keen to pick up maximum points against Bangladesh to keep in touch with the competition pacesetters.
The top two teams at the end of the current cycle will play in next year's World Test Championship final at Lord's.