Follow UsNoman Ali of Pakistan achieved a rare feat as he guided his team to a memorable 93-run win against the defending World Test Champions (WTC), South Africa in the first Test of the two-match series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on October 15 (Wednesday).
He took a 10-wicket haul, his third in only his 20th Test, thereby becoming only the second Pakistani after Fazal Mahmood and 12th player overall in the history of Tests to achieve this rare feat.
Before Noman, Australia’s CV Grimmett and Fredrick Spofforth, England’s Sydney Barnes, George Lohmann, Thomas Richardson, Colin Blythe, Johnny Briggs and Tich Freeman, along with Pakistan’s Fazal Mahmood and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan had taken three or more 10 wicket hauls in 20 or fewer Tests.
The feat is so rare that the greats of the game like Sri Lanka’s Muthiah Muralidaran, Australia’s Shane Warne and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin were also not able to achieve it.
Pakistan, defending 276 in the fourth innings, bowled the opposition out for 183 in 60.5 overs with Noman and Shaheen Afridi picking four wickets each. Noman, who started his Test career late, making his debut in 2021 at the age of 35, has taken 93 wickets in 20 Tests at an average of 24.15.
Noman would now have his sights set on breaking the record for becoming the oldest to reach the 100 Test wickets' milestone, as he is already 39 and the oldest to reach that milestone is Claire Grimmett of Australia, who did it at the age of 38 in 1931.