The former great Javed Miandad is one of the most idolized batters in Pakistan. He had a long and legendary career playing both Test and ODI cricket for Pakistan. The sharp middle-order batter particularly excelled in Test cricket and on this day, he scored his sixth and last double century in his Test career. This double-century was scored against New Zealand in tough batting conditions in Auckland.
Miandad’s masterclass
Imran Khan won the toss for Pakistan and elected to bat first in the third Test of the series. But initially, this decision did not appear to go in their favour as they lost a couple of wickets very early. But as the norm had been Javed Miandad once again stepped in to rescue his team from the apparent crisis.
He stitched a very important partnership with Shoaib Mohammad. This partnership added more than 200 runs to the scoreboard for Pakistan. Miandad in his usual style kept ticking the scoreboard and extracted the team out of a difficult situation. The veteran continued scoring even after Mohammad was dismissed. Miandad got assistance from the other middle-order batters like Saleem Malik and the skipper Imran Khan who solidified Pakistan’s position in the first innings.
Meanwhile, Javed Miandad completed his double century which was also the sixth double century in his Test career. It was a huge achievement for him. When he got out, he had already given Pakistan enough runs to put the opposition under pressure. Miandad ended up with 271 runs off 465 balls and Pakistan eventually declared their innings with 616 runs on the board.
This massive first-innings total helped Pakistan force a follow-on on New Zealand but somehow the Kiwis held their ground and managed to get a draw from this contest. Javed Miandad was awarded the player of the match for his outstanding double century in testing conditions.