All the four Pakistani top-order batsmen, namely Shan Masood (135), Abid Ali (174), Azhar Ali (118), and Babar Azam (100*), scored hundreds against Sri Lanka in the second innings of the second Test at the National Stadium in Karachi.
It is only the second time that all the four top-order batsmen have scored an individual century in a single innings. Earlier in 2007, Indian batsmen Dinesh Kartik, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar had achieved against Bangladesh.
It’s only the second time when the top four batsmen in a team have scored hundreds in a single innings of a Test 👀
🇧🇩 v 🇮🇳 in 2007:
Dinesh Karthik
Wasim Jaffer
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar🇵🇰 v 🇱🇰 in 2019:
Shan Masood
Abid Ali
Azhar Ali
Babar Azam pic.twitter.com/M3ezdUAyDK— ICC (@ICC) December 22, 2019
Earlier, Abid brought up his second century in as many Test matches to join the elite list of batsmen who have scored consecutive centuries in their first two Test matches. Abid also became the only cricketer to hit debut century in One-Day International (ODI) and Test. His ODI century came against Australia in March this year.
Pakistan resumed Sunday’s play at a score of 395/2 with Azhar and Babar in the crease. The Pakistani captain, after a rough phase, also seemed to hit his form as he scored his 16th Test hundred.
Babar, who has undoubtedly been Pakistan’s best batsman in recent times completed another century. This was Babar’s 6th century of 2019 in across formats.
Pakistan declared their innings at 555/3 after their fourth batsman Babar Azam reached the triple-figure mark for Sri Lanka to chase a target of 476.
The two-match series, which is a part of the ICC World Test Championship, is currently levelled at 0-0 after the first match ended in a draw.