The spotlight was on the Pakistan cricket team who are under massive pressure since the hammering loss against England in the first Test which then forced the selectors to drop some of their star players including their best batter, Babar Azam who was struggling for form. His replacement, Kamran Ghulam made his Test debut where he scored his maiden Test century to shut down those who questioned the move.
Coincidentally, it is the 30th birthday of Babar Azam but his special day has a bit of a sour note with his replacement going on to get to triple-figures on debut. Looking at Ghulam’s record in first-class cricket, he has played 59 games scoring 4377 runs at an average of 49.17 which includes 20 half-centuries and 16 tons.
Ghulam who is 29-years-old had to work hard to make it to the international stage. He made his debut for Abbottabad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in the 2013/14 season and has been a mainstay in the first-class format since. While he may not have a stellar List A or T20 record, he could be a reliable batter for the Test side and has the backing of several former players.
Pakistan were in dire need of a star performer and Ghulam seems to have answered that call where his partnership with Saim Ayub worth 149 runs helped revive the home side’s chances of posting a competitive total in tougher conditions at Multan.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will also be pleased to see their drastic move serve the side well at least with the bat. It is to be noted that the Men in Green had scored over 500 runs in the first innings of the first Test where Shan Masood, the skipper scored over 150 runs.
But it was the bowling unit that let them down and the PCB will hope that the makeshift bowling unit without their big stars like Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah can also follow suit after the first batting innings.
Pakistan are already one match down in the three-match Test series and a win in the second game will help take the game to the final one which would decide the series.
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