Pakistan were 318 for 8 in the second innings at Edgbaston. Still two runs short of making England bat again. Three days in, three Tests deep into a tour that had already cost seven players their places and two coaches their jobs. The innings defeat looked inevitable.
Then Razaullah walked out at No. 9.
The 21-year-old had never played a Test match. He had never played in England before this week. He had four wickets from the first innings and 11 runs from the first batting effort. None of that mattered when he faced Gus Atkinson’s first delivery and clubbed it over the boundary.
Three sixes off Atkinson in four balls. Then Jofra Archer. Then Josh Tongue. Every bowler who came at him left shorter. He reached his fifty off 43 balls, the fastest by any Pakistan batter on Test debut. He broke two bats during the innings. One six cleared Edgbaston entirely and landed in a hotel across the road.
By the time Jordan Cox stumped him off Dan Lawrence in the final over of the day, Razaullah had 81 off 63 balls. Nine sixes. Four fours. Strike rate 128.57. The nine sixes equalled Tim Southee’s 2008 world record for most sixes on Test debut. It was also the most sixes ever hit by a No. 9 batter in a Test innings.
“I wasn’t scared of pace. I wanted to punish the balls from Archer that landed on a hard length. There’s nothing to be scared of when you’re playing for your country. I was just enjoying myself.”
Razaullah, post-match press conference, September 11, 2026
The entire Edgbaston crowd stood. Pakistan’s bench stood. The commentator on air said it plainly: “Everyone in this ground, and I’m sure everyone at home, has enjoyed that innings.”
Enjoy it we did! pic.twitter.com/AvLLI8jkXe
— Cricinfo (@cricinfo) September 12, 2026
His partnership with Mohammad Abbas produced 121 runs for the ninth wicket, the highest against England since 1984. Abbas contributed 42 off 67 balls with five fours and two sixes of his own. Together they dragged Pakistan from 318 for 8 to 449 all out. England’s target: 130.
From Nehag Dara to Edgbaston
Razaullah Khan Mashwani was born on April 5, 2005, in Nehag Dara, a village in Upper Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. His family moved to Mardan when he was two. He grew up near New Sabzi Mandi in Mansab, playing tape-ball cricket on the streets before joining the Akmal Khan Cricket Academy during the 2022-23 season.
His coach Akmal Khan described him as someone who “strongly believes in hard work and has never believed in taking shortcuts.”
The path from academy cricket to Test cricket took three years. Under-19 cricket for Mardan. Regional selection for Abbottabad. An elbow injury that stalled his progress. Then the domestic grind: MIT Solutions (28 wickets in one season, 27 the next), Sahir Associates (25 wickets in five first-class matches plus leading them to a President’s Trophy title), and a stint as guest player for Peshawar Region where he scored a century and a fifty while opening the batting in a follow-on after making his maiden first-class fifty at No. 9 in the first innings of the same match.
His bowling action drew immediate comparisons to Waqar Younis. Low-arm, slingy release, natural pace at 140-145 kph. Rawalpindi picked him for the 2026 PSL, where he touched 148 kph in two matches. The PCB’s high-performance director Aaqib Javed noticed him at the National Cricket Academy. In late August, he was invited to a fast-bowling camp with 11 other pacers and named player of the camp.
Then Pakistan’s tour of England collapsed. An innings-and-103-run loss at Headingley. A 194-run defeat at Lord’s. The PCB dropped seven players: Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar, and Khurram Shahzad. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and assistant Umar Gul were sacked. Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke replaced them. Five uncapped players were drafted in.
Razaullah was one of them. Reports emerged that his phone was switched off when selectors tried to reach him, that a coach was dispatched to his village to inform him, and that his passport and visa were expedited overnight. The passport story went viral on social media, though a fact-check report later disputed parts of the claim.
🚨 All 8 Sixes By Razaullah ☠️
First Six to : Josh tongue
2nd Six to : Atkinson
3rd Six to : Atkinson
4rth Six to : Atkinson
5th Six to : Archer
6th Six to : Archer
7th Six to : Atkinson
8th Six to : Lawrence“Bro Day by Day 🥶” pic.twitter.com/g6eC1IGgCv
— M Farhan (@MFarhan1200) September 12, 2026
None of it changed the fact that by Day 1 at Edgbaston, he was bowling to Joe Root.
His third delivery in international cricket trapped Root LBW for 8. Root reviewed. Ball-tracking showed three reds. He clocked 92 mph in his first two overs and never dipped below 89 mph for the rest of the spell. He finished with 4 for 148 off 23 overs. England made 453, but Razaullah had announced himself.
Nasser Hussain, on Sky Sports commentary, called it directly: “It hurried one of the greatest batters there has ever been in Joe Root, and got him out.”
“One of those two has played just one Test match, while another has played 70 Tests. Just look at the intent, man! Look at how good the intent of the guy playing his first Test match is.”
Shoaib Akhtar, YouTube, September 11, 2026
Babar Azam scored 76 off 103 balls in the same innings. A solid contribution. But Razaullah scored 81 off 63. The difference was not five runs. The difference was that one player was trying to survive the match and the other was trying to win it.
View this post on Instagram
Insider Read
When you bat at No. 9, you own nothing. No average worth protecting. No selection spot to defend. No media cycle to manage. That is the cleanest headspace in cricket, and Razaullah used every bit of it.
Top-order batters in Pakistan carry the weight of 300 million expectations into every innings. Babar’s 76 was technically correct. It rebuilt the innings after Pakistan lost two wickets for zero in the first two overs. But it never shifted the pressure back onto England. Razaullah did that from ball one. He treated Archer’s 90-mph short balls as scoring opportunities, not threats. That is not recklessness. That is the freedom of a player who has not yet been taught to be afraid. Pakistan’s challenge now is making sure they never teach him.
England chased 130 on Day 4. Both openers, Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay, fell in the first over. But Joe Root (62) and Jordan Cox (59) steadied the chase. England won by 8 wickets, completing a 3-0 series sweep. The series result was decisive. But the 3rd Test belonged to the debutant from Mardan who equalled a world record because nobody told him he could not.
Also Read:
