Abdullah, 23, with his 113 runs pulled the team from the difficult thoroughfare of the highest target of 344 runs set by the Sri Lankan tigers. He belonged to a city which is famous for its production of sports equipment and its export.

He emerged in the cricket world in October 2015, when he was selected for Pakistan’s Under 19 tour of Sri Lanka, after giving a brilliant performance in the tournament he found space for two ACC Asia Cups in 2016 and 2017.

In the HBL PSL, Abdullah was first picked by Multan Sultans in the 2018 Players Draft but failed to get a game in the season. Abdullah’s first experience of the PSL eventually came with Lahore Qalandars in 2022 when he amassed 251 runs from 11 matches.

Abdullah has pursued the dream of his father Ahmed Shafiq who was a first-class cricketer and had featured in 26 first-class matches.

He has a tally of 720 runs from six Test matches – the most runs scored by a Pakistan batter after their first six Tests, surpassing the great Javed Miandad.

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It is pertinent to mention that Abdullah Shafiq came as a replacement for opening batter Fakhar Zaman. The latter was dropped from the match because of his inconsistent performances.