Pakistan captain Shaan Masood won the toss and opted to bat first, but the decision initially backfired as Jack Leach dismissed Abdullah Shafique early and reduced Pakistan to 19/3. Debutant Kamran Ghulam and Saim Ayub then steadied the innings with a 65-run partnership by lunch. Post-lunch, the pair switched to an aggressive approach, with Ayub reaching his fifty off 97 balls and Ghulam also scoring a half-century, building a 149-run stand before Ayub fell to Matthew Potts, leaving Pakistan at 173/3 by tea. After tea, Saud Shakeel was cheaply dismissed, but Ghulam continued his strong performance, pushing Pakistan to 178/4 after 62 overs. Thereafter, Ghulam scored a brilliant ton off 192 deliveries and took Pakistan to the driver’s seat.
The spectacular moment came in the 74th over when Joe Root bowled a flighted delivery outside off stump, and Kamran Ghulam dropped to one knee, slog-sweeping it over mid-on for a boundary. The debutant, filled with emotion, reached his century as the crowd and Pakistan team rose in a standing ovation. Ghulam celebrated by punching the air, removing his helmet, and kissing the ground before embracing Mohammad Rizwan at the non-striker’s end. The scene was even more emotional as cameras captured his father, tearful with joy, while Twitter lit up with fans celebrating Ghulam’s brilliant achievement.
Well deserved!
Brilliant
Kamran Ghulam replaces Babar Azam in 2nd Test match and he scored a brilliant hundred against England on Test Debut.
Ghulam became the 13th Pakistan batter to score a century on Test Debut.— Ravishankar Kumar (@Ravishankar1803) October 15, 2024
After loads of fisrt class
Well deserved Century of debut by Kamran Ghulam.. Given a chance after playing loads of first class games and scoring plenty of runs at avg of almost 50.. pic.twitter.com/cSvWdwPaUe
— Shahzad Iqbal (@ShahzadIqbalGEO) October 15, 2024
Congrats
13th player
Welcome to Test cricket, Kamran Ghulam! 💯
He becomes the 13th player to score a century on debut for Pakistan 🇵🇰#PakistanCricket #PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/7y9WQAk3Gy— Mohamed Hatheek (@hatheek4u) October 15, 2024
Well deserve century by Kamran Ghulam❤️🔥 Brilliant batting keep going 🤲🏻 #PakistanCricket #KamranGhulam #PAKvENG #Pakistan
— SHABI BUTT (@Danyalkhan6644) October 15, 2024
Classical
That has been a proper classical test match century by Kamran Ghulam!!
— Moiz Ur Rehman (@MoizUrRehman_) October 15, 2024
High reward
Well done, Kamran Ghulam. High risk, high reward. This may be an end of Babar Azam. #PAKvENG
— 77 🏏 (@CriCrazeX) October 15, 2024
Kamran Ghulam scored a brilliant hundred when his team needed him the most pic.twitter.com/zu8qbxhSKG
— Jitendra Kumar (@jitenda60203698) October 15, 2024
Maiden
