The second Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is currently taking place in Colombo, and on the third day, Pakistani batsman Saud Shakeel reached his eighth half-century. Shakeel is now the first batter in Test history to have a fifty in each of the first seven matches thanks to this accomplishment.
Sunil Gavaskar, Basil Butcher, Saeed Ahmad, and Bert Sutcliffe, who scored fifty runs or more in each of their first six matches, have been eclipsed by Shakeel.
He entered the crease as Sri Lanka had scored 166 in the first innings and Pakistan was standing at 210-3. After scoring 57 runs, he left the game, but his collaboration with Abdullah Shafique allowed Pakistan to increase their first-inning advantage to almost 150.
The 27-year-old had made history by being the first Pakistani batsman to score a double century on Sri Lankan territory during the first Test in Galle.
His superb 208-run performance broke Mohammad Hafeez’s previous record for the greatest individual Test score by a Pakistani hitter in Sri Lanka (196).
Furthermore, Shakeel accomplished a double century in the opening away Test match of a series, becoming just the second Pakistani batsman to do so after Zaheer Abbas against England in 1971. His list of accomplishments keeps getting longer with this one.