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Pakistan is playing a two-match Test series against Zimbabwe. Both the matches are being played at Harare Sports Club. In the first match, Pakistan gained a comfortable lead after Hasan Ali's brilliant bowling spell, who took 9 wickets in the game, which helped his team won by an innings and 116 runs.
Meanwhile, in the second Test, fans were in for a treat for a marvellous batting display by Abid Ali, who scored an unbeaten 215 and broke an 8-year-old record set by Younis Khan for the highest individual score in Zimbabwe.
The Lahore-born cricketer first caught the eye of the national team selectors at the age of 31. Ali earned his first national team call up for ODI's in 2019 because of his consistent performances while playing for Islamabad. Abid had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. He made sure to seize it by smashing a hundred on his debut. And it came against a powerful team of Australia.
The first man to score a century on Test And ODI debut
Later in the year 2019, after the ODI series, Ali made an undefeated score of 249 in the first-class circuit of Pakistan. The performance tempted a call-up for the Test side, for a home series against Sri Lanka (first series at home after a decade). Experts & fans always contemplated that he was better suited to the game's longest format as it came naturally to him. When the match started at Rawalpindi, Abid was keen to cement his place from the very first game, and he did not disappoint. Unfortunately, rain disrupted the game during the whole period. Still, even in the short window of play, the determined batsman managed to score 109 runs and stayed not out.
After this moment, Abid Ali became the first batsman in cricket history to score a century on Test & ODI debut. This milestone definitely cemented his place as an opener as he was picked for the England tour of 2020. Although he only managed to pile up 139 runs in 5 innings with the best score of 60, these runs came in handy to draw the match against the English team.
Pakistan will be touring England in July for a limited-over series, but we'll have to wait and watch if Abid makes the cut for ODI's and T20I Teams.