Pakistan's Kamran Ghulam smokes century on Test debut: Stats
Kamran Ghulam, who has replaced former Pakistan captain Babar Azam, made a dream debut in the ongoing second Test against England in Multan. He smoked a stunning century to power the home team. Ghulam and Saim Ayub stitched a solid 149-run partnership, taking Pakistan away from an early top-order collapse. The duo took the English bowling attack to the cleaners in the first two sessions of Day 1.
Ghulam's impressive performance against England's spinners
Ghulam, who has been a revelation in domestic cricket, brought up his half-century off 104 balls. He was particularly brutal against the spinners, smashing Jack Leach for an early six in his innings. Meanwhile, he brought up a century in the final session. As mentioned, he and Ayub (77) added 149 runs after the hosts were reduced to 19/2. He further added 65 runs with Mohammad Rizwan, taking Pakistan past 250. The debutant eventually fell to spinner Shoaib Bashir.
PCB drops Babar Azam for remaining Tests against England
Notably, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday, October 13, announced that it had dropped star batter Babar for the remaining two Tests against England. Sarfaraz Ahmed and fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were also released from the squad. Wrist spinner Abrar Ahmed was left out due to his recovery from dengue fever.
Here are his stats
Ghulam ended up scoring 118 off 224 balls as he slammed 11 fours and a six. The 29-year-old, who made his Test debut with a First-Class record of 4,377 runs in 59 matches at an average of 49.17, indeed has big shoes to fill as he has replaced Babar. As per ESPNcricinfo, this was his 17th FC ton. The tally also includes 20 fifties.
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Ghulam, 29, became the second-oldest batter to slam a century for Pakistan on his Test debut. He is only behind Abid Ali, who was 32 when he smoked a debut Test century versus Sri Lanka in 2019. As per ESPNcricinfo, Ghulam overall became the 14th Pakistani to slam a hundred on Test debut. He is the first from his nation to accomplish this milestone versus England.
