His name itself means “king” — “Raja.” Mohammad Rajaullah had all but reigned over England’s bowlers on his debut. With the bat, he went even further, producing feats unmatched anywhere in the 149-year history of Test cricket.
Bowling in the first innings, he had picked up four wickets one after another. His pace and wicket-taking ability had already put him in the spotlight. Who knew he had an even bigger surprise hidden behind his bat?
When he walked out to bat in the second innings, Pakistan still needed 2 runs to avoid an innings defeat. That alone isn’t a huge ask, but with only two tail-end wickets remaining, it felt like the matter of just two yorkers.
Rajaullah didn’t let Pakistan’s innings end as merely a two-yorker affair. He began his innings by hitting Josh Tongue for six. That six alone saved Pakistan from an innings defeat.
What followed was his “show.” In total, he struck nine sixes. He reached fifty off 43 balls — no faster fifty exists on debut for Pakistan. He eventually fell for 81 off 63 balls. The innings not only saved Pakistan from the shame of an innings defeat, but also handed them a lead of 129 runs and, with it, a faint hope of victory.
What Pakistan ultimately does with that lead remains to be seen. But what Raja did on the third day has already written him into the history books. Nine sixes on debut — cricket history has seen this feat only once before. In 2008, New Zealand’s Tim Southee hit the same number of sixes on debut against England, but that was at Napier, on home soil. A feat like this on debut, on foreign soil, had never been seen before in cricket’s 149-year history.
Interestingly, Southee himself was a witness to Rajaullah’s feat. The retired Kiwi pacer is now with the England team as a consultant, at Edgbaston.
The six-hitting record extended to a partnership as well. His stand with Mohammad Abbas produced 10 sixes — no last-wicket pair in cricket history has ever hit that many sixes together.
The nine sixes also matched the record for most sixes in a single Test innings on English soil, a mark originally set during a 155-run innings at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes. Raja has now equalled that record as well.