OTD | In only his second Test, Zaheer Abbas laced a glorious 274 against England at Edgbaston in 1971

On this day, back in 1971, former Pakistani star cricketer Zaheer Abbas struck out 274 runs during the first Test match against England, which took place in Birmingham. Pakistan’s star cricketer Zaheer Abbas marked his international arrival with a breathtaking double century at Edgbaston during Pakistan’s tour of England back in 1971. The next year, he emerged as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Notably, Zaheer was hardly renowned outside of his home country when he went to England with Intikhab Alam and Co.

However, in a matter of weeks, he earned recognition as an elite batter in the classical style, having an excellent temperament and a wide range of strokes, including a magnificent cover drive. However, few overseas players have so thoroughly grasped situations and bowlers alike on their debut tour of England.

He made his debut at Worcestershire with a magnificent century, and even though he was out first ball in the crucial final Test at Headingley, he proceeded to play to an excellent level. Meanwhile, in only his second Test match and his first against England, he climbed the Everest of his stunning tour with a score of 274 at Edgbaston. This spectacular inning fell just four runs short of Denis Compton’s record for the two nations, which was set at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, in 1954. At one point, Zaheer’s strength seemed to have become so great that any batting milestone in history might vanish.

Speaking of the match here, the Pakistani side were able to post 608 runs in the first inning of the game after the stylish right-handed batter made 274 runs from 467 balls, featuring 38 boundaries and a solid strike rate of 59 to help his side post the massive total. Notably, Mushtaq Mohammad and Asif Iqbal also struck a hundred to help Pakistan post the great total. However, during the chase, the hosts made 353 runs in the first inning while they made 229 runs in the second inning, which helped draw the match. 

Also read: Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes was born in 1991