In the first Test match at Rawalpindi, it is raining records every day.
This time, Pakistan’s openers, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq scored centuries of their own to stitch a 200-run partnership for the first wicket.
This is the first time in the history of Test cricket that there have been four centurions at the top of the batting order.
In England’s first innings, it was Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett who also made a double hundred opening partnership.
Will Jacks dismissed Shafique just after the latter had completed his ton.
Jacks has come in as a last-minute replacement for Ben Foakes who is down with a viral infection.
Jacks provided the breakthrough that England needed for a long time.
And now with the Pakistani openers completing their hundreds in this Test match, there have now been four centurions from the top of the batting order for each of their team’s first batting innings.
Additionally, this is again one of the firsts for this Test to go down into record books.
This is also the first time that all four openers in a Test match have scored hundreds in their team’s first innings.
In 1948, in a Test match between West Indies and England, there were four centurions but one of the centuries came in the third innings of that Test.
Alongside this, the Rawalpindi Test has also seen seven hundreds from seven batsmen, one short of all-time record of eight Test hundreds.
This feat has been achieved in two Tests previously. The first one was the West Indies vs South Africa Test at St John’s in 2005.
Then again, in Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh Test in Galle in 2013, eight batters made eight hundreds in that Test match.
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