Shakeel Stopped at the Door of a Century in Both Innings, an Unwanted Record for Pakistan Batter

The Rawalpindi Test ended the moment Lahiru Kumara bowled Saud Shakeel. Neither Pakistan nor Sri Lanka could win the first Test of the series, and the match finished in a draw. But it was not the result that drew attention — it was what happened to Shakeel, who fell short of a century in both innings and entered an unwanted record book.

In the first innings against Sri Lanka, Shakeel was dismissed for 93, missing his fifth Test century. In the second innings he came even closer to three figures, only to miss out by three runs. Stopped at 97, he became only the fifth batter in Test history to be dismissed in the nervous nineties in both innings of the same match.

Before Shakeel, the list contained Australia's Clem Hill, England's Frank Woolley, the West Indies' Gordon Greenidge and Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene. The feat of falling in the nineties in both innings of a Test has now occurred six times in total.

Pakistan resumed the fifth day of the second innings at 57 for one after 21.2 overs. With the very first ball of the final day, Lahiru Kumara removed Azan Awais for 22. In the very next over, Asitha Fernando dismissed Mohammad Taha for 24. Losing two wickets within five balls, the hosts slumped to 57 for three after 22.2 overs.

Shakeel came in at number five and built a fourth-wicket partnership of 49 runs off 88 balls with Babar Azam. Milan Rathnayake broke the stand with the fifth ball of the 37th over, dismissing Babar. Babar made 34 off 48 balls with six fours, falling into the trap set by Sri Lankan captain Kusal Mendis, who had placed Lahiru Udara at short square leg — Babar was caught by Udara, while Mendis also kept wicket for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka then trapped Salman Ali Agha in the same manner for 13. On the last ball of the 43rd over, Pasindu Sooriyabandara took a fine catch at short backward square leg, with Rathnayake again the bowler. Losing two quick wickets, Pakistan reached 125 for five in 43 overs.

Shakeel and Ghazi Ghori then added 92 runs off 159 balls for the sixth wicket, Pakistan's highest partnership of the second innings. Rathnayake broke the stand on the last ball of the 69th over, removing Ghori for 35. Then, on the fifth ball of the 85th over, Kumara bowled Shakeel with the hosts at 284 after 84.5 overs, ending Pakistan's second innings. Shakeel top-scored with 97 off 210 balls, hitting eight fours.

Earlier, sent in to bat after losing the toss, Pakistan declared their first innings at 438 for nine. Shakeel was again the top scorer, while Babar, Taha, Tayyab Arif and Arafat Minhas also scored fifties. In reply, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 446, with Dhananjaya de Silva making a top score of 167 and Kusal Mendis scoring 119.

Pakistani pacer Sakib Khan took seven wickets for 130 runs. He made his international debut in this match and was also named player of the match.