Kamran Ghulam replaced Babar Azam as No. 4 batter for Pakistan in 2nd Test against England. (Picture Credit: AP)
Kamran Ghulam came out to bat at No. 4 for Pakistan in the first innings of the ongoing second Test against England and completed his century with a boundary on the 192nd ball he faced.
29-year-old Kamran Ghulam, who replaced Babar Azam in Pakistan’s playing XI for the ongoing second Test against England at Multan Cricket Stadium, scored a century on his Test debut on Tuesday (October 15). The right-handed batter came out to bat at No. 4 for the Shan Masood-led side and crossed the 100-run mark with a boundary on the last ball of the 74th over.
He has hammered eight fours and one six so far during his 192-ball stay at the crease and was involved in a 149-run stand for the third wicket with opener Saim Ayub, who made 77 runs from 160 balls.
Ghulam, who has played in 59 First Class matches so far, was named in Pakistan’s playing XI on Monday. He replaced Babar, who was dropped from the squad for the last two Tests of the ongoing three-match series by Pakistan’s new selection committee.
Babar, who stepped down as Pakistan’s Test captain last year, is horribly out of form these days. He hasn’t scored a fifty in his last 18 innings for Men in Green.
Apart from Babar, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah were also left out of Pakistan’s squad for the remaining two matches of the home series against England.
The decision to leave Babar out came as a shock for many fans and former greats of the game, but with his super show with the bat in the second match of the series, Ghulam has at least justified his selection in the playing XI.
Had he failed to score big runs in the ongoing match, fans would have raised their voices in support of Babar even more.
He is the 13th Pakistani batter after Khalid Ibadulla, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Mohammad Wasim, Ali Naqvi, Azhar Mahmood, Younis Khan, Taufeeq Umar, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal and Abid Ali to score century on Test debut.
Pakistani batters to score century on Test debut
| PLAYER | RUNS | OPPOSITION | VENUE | YEAR |
| Khalid Ibadulla | 166 | Australia | Karachi | 1964 |
| Javed Miandad | 163 | New Zealand | Lahore | 1976 |
| Saleem Malik | 100* | Sri Lanka | Karachi | 1982 |
| Mohammad Wasim | 109* | New Zealand | Lahore | 1996 |
| Ali Naqvi | 115 | South Africa | Rawalpindi | 1997 |
| Azhar Mahmood | 128* | South Africa | Rawalpindi | 1997 |
| Younis Khan | 107 | Sri Lanka | Rawalpindi | 2000 |
| Taufeeq Umar | 104 | Bangladesh | Multan | 2001 |
| Yasir Hameed | 170, 105 | Bangladesh | Karachi | 2003 |
| Fawad Alam | 168 | Sri Lanka | Colombo | 2009 |
| Umar Akmal | 129 | New Zealand | Dunedin | 2009 |
| Abid Ali | 109* | Sri Lanka | Rawalpindi | 2019 |
| Kamran Ghulam | 102* | England | Multan | 2024 |
On the first day of the ongoing second Test against England, Pakistan had high hopes from last match centurions Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood. But both of them failed to fire and got out inside the first 10 overs. Jack Leach breached Shafique’s defence on the third ball of the eighth over to dismiss him for 7 runs from 28 balls, and then on the fourth ball of his next over, he got Pakistan captain Shan caught out by Zak Crawley.
Shan, who top-scored for Pakistan in the first innings of the first Test, could only manage to score three runs from seven balls on Tuesday.