PAK vs ENG 2022: 7 records that were broken during an emphatic first Test in Rawalpindiย
In what was one of the best Test matches of recent times, Team England pulled off a remarkable victory over Pakistan in the opening Test encounter in Rawalpindi on Monday (December 5).
An out-and-out run-fest saw both teams battle hard across all five days. While the pitch in Rawalpindi received a lot of flak for being predominantly beneficial for the batters, the Ben Stokes-led team did extremely well to force a win out of the game.
After opting to bat first, the England batters asserted their dominance on the host bowlers from the word go. They piled up a mammoth 657 runs on the board, courtesy of four fabulous centuries by Zak Crawley (122), Ben Duckett (107), Ollie Pope (108) and Harry Brook (153).
Pakistan had their task cut out in their first innings, however, they batted cautiously and scored 579 runs to give England a slender first-innings lead of 78 runs. Three Pakistani batters in Abdullah Shafique (114), Imam-ul-Haq (121) and Babar Azam (136) also struck out a hundred to their name.
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Luck only favors the bravest ๐๐ป
One of the best wins in Test cricket ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ
#crickettwitter #engvspak https://t.co/XecJ6PnUd5
With less than six sessions remaining in the game, England came out all guns blazing in their second innings to score 264/7 in just 35.5 overs. After attaining a lead of 342 runs, Stokes made a bold call to declare England's innings at Tea on Day 4.
The decision could've gone either way for Stokes as the pitch had nothing to offer the bowlers. With no more than four sessions to go in the game, the England bowlers had the arduous task of bundling out the Pakistani team. On the flip side, the hosts also had a golden chance to bag the match by chasing down 343 runs in the fourth innings.
However, it wasn't to be for Pakistan. The Babar Azam-led unit were skittled out for 268 runs in 96.3 overs, handing England one of their best away wins in Tests. The victory marked England's first-ever red-ball win in Pakistan after 22 years.
The marvelous first Test between Pakistan and England saw numerous records get shattered and created. Here's a compilation of seven records that were broken during the Rawalpindi Test.
#1 The match saw the most combined runs being scored in a five-day Test match ever
The Rawalpindi Test witnessed a record for the most runs scored in four combined innings set throughout four incredibly run-filled innings.
There were a total of 1768 runs scored in the game between the two teams, with England scoring 921 runs in their two innings and Pakistan scoring 847 runs across their two innings.
The only two other higher-scoring Tests were the timeless Tests between England and South Africa in 1939 and the West Indies and England in 1930.
The previous highest combined total between the two sides in a five-day game came during a Test between England and Australia in 1969. The two arch-rivals made a total of 1764 runs across five days.
#2 First-ever instance of a team scoring 500+ runs on the opening day
A dominating display by the England batters saw them muster 506/4 in just 75 overs on Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan. Remarkably, this was the first time when a cricket team breached the 500-run mark on the opening day of a Test.
Harry Brook showed no respect to Saud Shakeel ๐๐ป๐ฅ
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Scoring at a stunning run rate of 6.75, England had four centurions on day one, which was again a record for the first day of a Test.
#3 First-ever Test with two double-century opening stands
Both England and Pakistan's openers made merry on the Rawalpindi surface, which was extremely well-suited for batting. The opening pair of both teams shared double-century stands once in the Test match.
While Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett piled on 233 runs in England's first innings, Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq shared stitched up 225 runs for the opening wicket during Pakistan's first innings.
This was the first ever time in a Test match that there were two double-hundred partnerships for the first wicket.
#4 Most runs in an over in Tests for England
Taking a toll on the Pakistani bowlers, young English batter Harry Brook set a record for smashing the most runs off an over for England in Tests when he hit 27 runs off a Zahid Mohammad over in the third innings of the match.
Harry Brook showed no respect to Saud Shakeel ๐๐ป๐ฅ
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It's interesting to note that Brook broke his own record, which he had set three days earlier when he hit six successive fours to score 24 runs off Saud Shakeel's over in England's first innings.
#5 Highest team run-rate in a single Test match innings (min 250 runs)
In order to get a result out of the game, England made sure to score runs quickly and struck out 264 runs at a handsome run-rate of 7.36 in their second innings on Day 4.
Incredibly for England, their run-rate of 7.36 is now the best in a single innings of a Test match when a team has scored more than 250 runs.
England surpassed South Africa's run-rate of 6.80 when the Proteas scored 340/3 in 50 overs against Zimbabwe in 2005.
#6 Most runs conceded in an innings on Test debut
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A tough introduction to Test cricket for Zahid Mahmood ๐จ #PAKvENG https://t.co/ahQ7NcsK1E
Despite claiming six wickets in the game, leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood didn't have an ideal Test debut for Pakistan.
The 34-year old entered himself on an unwanted record-list as he became the bowler with the most runs leaked in a single innings on a Test debut. Mahmood conceded as many as 235 runs in his very first innings in Test cricket.
Previously, Sri Lankan spinner Suraj Randiv held this record, giving away 222 runs in the first innings of his Test debut against India in 2010.
#7 First team to score at a run-a-ball or above across both innings of a Test match
Another historic achievement made by Team England as a result of their offensive approach was that the Three Lions are now the first ever team to score at or above a run-a-ball (6 runs per over) rate throughout both innings of a Test match.
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England were ready to lose to win ๐๐ป
England could have easily played for a draw but instead they offered Pakistan an equal chance of winning the match in exchange of a win โญ๏ธ
Cricket wins ๐
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England scored at a run-rate of over 6.5 and 7.3 in their two respective innings against Pakistan.