Pakistan's Saud Shakeel misses out on his fifth Test ton
What's the story
A fine 93-run knock from Saud Shakeel's blade has put Pakistan in a commanding position in the ongoing first Test match against Sri Lanka at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. He shared a massive 96-run partnership with wicket-keeper Ghazi Ghori (48), which took the home team near the 350-run mark. However, Shakeel was unfortunate to miss out on a hundred. Here are the key stats.
Match dynamics
A fine hand from Shakeel
Shakeel's compact defensive technique tested the patience of Sri Lankan seamers, mostly Asitha Fernando and Lahiru Kumara.
Notably, Pakistan were well placed at 159/3 when the southpaw arrived to bat.
He added 68 runs with Mohammad Taha (68) before taking the scorecard forward with Ghori.
Pakistan didn't let this affect their momentum after Ghori's departure, as debutant Arafat Minhas joined Shakeel and they added another 44 runs.
Fernando eventually ended Shakeel's stay in the second session of Day 2.
Stats
Shakeel's 12th Test fifty
Shakeel scored 93 off 199 balls with the help of nine fours.
With this effort, Shakeel has raced to 2,099 runs from 27 matches (51 innings) at an average of 43.72, as per Cricinfo.
He slammed his 12th fifty (100s: 4). Across four innings, Shakeel has amassed 388 runs at a jaw-dropping average of 129.33.
This includes three 50-plus scores, including a double-ton.
1,358 of his runs have come in home Tests at 52.23 (100s: 3, 50s: 9).