Fawad Alam has become the fastest Pakistan batsman to register five Test hundreds. Fawad Alam achieved the feat in the ongoing second Test against West Indies on Sunday.
The left-handed batsman scored his fifth Test ton only in his 22nd innings. Former Pakistan skipper Younis Khan was the fastest from the country before Fawad Alam broke his record.
Fawad Alam Breaks Younis Khan’s Record Of Scoring Quickest First Five Test Tons
Younis Khan had scored his first five-Test tons in 28 innings while Saleem Malik achieved a similar feat in 29 innings. Fawad Alam also became the sixth Pakistan batsman to score a century at Sabina Park, joining Imtiaz Ahmed (122 in 1958), Wazir Mohammad (106 in 1958), Asif Iqbal (135 in 1977), Younis Khan (106 in 2005), and Inzamam-ul-Haq (117 not out in 2005).
In reaching his century, the 35-year-old left-hander also became the quickest Asian batsman to reach five Test centuries in 22 innings, eclipsing Cheteshwar Pujara (24 innings) and Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar (both achieved the feat in 25 innings).
Fawad Alam Scores Unbeaten 124 In Pakistan’s 302/9 Declared
On day three of the second Test, Fawad Alam defied West Indies bowlers to record his fifth Test hundred before left-arm seamer Shaheen Shah Afridi snatched a brace of wickets to rock the hosts’ top order. Pakistan converted their overnight 212-4 into 302-9, before declaring 35 minutes after tea on Sunday.
The left-handed Fawad Alam struck an unbeaten 124, resuming his innings on 76 after retiring from heat exhaustion, 20 minutes after tea on Friday’s opening day. Babar Azam had scored 75 while the likes of Abid Ali(1), Imran Butt(1) ad Azhar Ali(0) fell cheaply.
Mohammad Rizwan made 31 and Faheem Ashraf got 26, with fast bowlers Jayden Seales (3-31) and Kemar Roach (3-68) finishing with three scalps apiece, and Jason Holder supporting with 2-46. Faced with 27 overs at the back end of the final session, West Indies closed at 39-3 for at the close – 263 runs adrift in the first innings with two days left in the match as Day 2 was washed out.
Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam returned to Pakistan’s Test playing XI after missing 88 matches in the span of 10 years and 8 months. Fawad Alam was picked in the playing XI of the second Test match against England in Southampton in the place of Shadab Khan.
He last played for Pakistan in a Test in November 2009 against New Zealand. The 88 Tests gap is the 7th longest between two matches in red-ball cricket. While it is the second-longest gap for a Pakistan cricketer as Younis Ahmed tops the list with 104 Tests gap between 1969-1987.
The 35-year-old left-hander smashed a debut hundred in Sri Lanka in 2009 but was discarded after only two more Tests and then had to wait for 10 years and 259 days for his next Test, in England last year.
In 13 Tests, he has amassed 895 runs averaging 47.11 with 5 tons and a solitary fifty.