RAWALPINDI: Pakistan batter Saud Shakeel has joined an unusual group in Test cricket after falling short of a century in both innings of the Rawalpindi Test against Sri Lanka.
Shakeel scored 93 in the first innings and 97 in the second, becoming the fifth batter to be dismissed in the 90s twice in the same Test. It was only the sixth time in the nearly 150-year history of Test cricket that a player has recorded two “nervous nineties” in one match.
The previous batter to achieve the feat was Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, who made 92 and 96 against New Zealand in Colombo in August 2009.
West Indies great Gordon Greenidge appears twice on the list. He scored 91 and 96 against Pakistan in Georgetown in March 1977, then made 91 and 97 against New Zealand in Christchurch three years later.
England’s Frank Woolley also had two near-centuries in a Test, scoring 95 and 93 against Australia at Lord’s in 1921.
The first recorded instance came in January 1902, when Australia’s Clem Hill made 98 and 97 against England in Adelaide. His 195-run match total remains the highest among batters dismissed in the 90s in both innings. Shakeel’s combined 190 runs rank second.
