Pakistani cricketers with two hundreds: The Pakistani opening batter is on the verge of achieving a personal milestone today.
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There is something about the form of left-handed batters making Test comebacks after more than 800 days these days. While Australia batter Usman Khawaja had returned to Test cricket with twin centuries against England in Sydney earlier this year, Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq is on the verge of achieving the feat on his Test comeback.
Haq, 26, has walked back to the pavilion at tea on the final day of the ongoing first Test match against Australia in Rawalpindi 11 short of what will be only his second Test century.
Having scored his first one in the first innings on a surface which continues to have nothing for bowlers even on a Day 5 pitch, Haq will become only the 10th Pakistani cricketer to score two centuries in a Test match.
The last instance of the same happening was when former captains Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq had scored centuries in two innings of the same Test (also against Australia) in Abu Dhabi over seven years ago.
Following spinner Nauman Ali’s career-best bowling figures of 38.1-9-107-6 in the morning session, Abdullah Shafique (99*) and Haq put together a 191-run partnership opening partnership before breaking for tea. In what is the duo’s second century opening stand, it has registered a rare case of three consecutive innings of a Test witnessing 100+ opening stands.
A century stand in both innings v AUS:
1924 – Hobbs & Sutcliffe (ENG)
1947 – Hutton & Washbrook (ENG)
1948 – Hutton & Washbrook (ENG)
1971 – Boycott & Edrich (ENG)
2022 – Shafique & Imam-ul-Haq #PAKvAUS— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 8, 2022
List of Pakistani cricketers with two hundreds in one Test match
If Haq achieves the milestone, he will become the first-ever cricketer to do it at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Ninth to score twin centuries in Pakistan, Haq will become the 13th batter to score two centuries in a Test against Australia.
| Batter | 1st | 2nd | Opposition | Ground | Year |
| Hanif Mohammad | 111 | 104 | England | Dhaka | 1962 |
| Javed Miandad | 104 | 103* | New Zealand | Hyderabad (Sind) | 1984 |
| Wajahatullah Wasti | 133 | 121* | Sri Lanka | Lahore | 1999 |
| Yasir Hameed | 170 | 105 | Bangladesh | Karachi | 2003 |
| Inzaman-ul-Haq | 109 | 100* | England | Faislabad | 2005 |
| Mohammad Yousuf | 102 | 124 | West Indies | Karachi | 2006 |
| Younis Khan | 106 | 103* | Australia | Dubai | 2014 |
| Azhar Ali | 109 | 100* | Australia | Abu Dhabi | 2014 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq | 101 | 101* | Australia | Abu Dhabi | 2014 |
