Older players create history during PAK vs SA 2nd Test: Know about record

The Pakistan vs South Africa 2nd Test at Rawalpindi created history, an event that had not been experienced previously in almost 150 years of Test cricket. The older players set a new record in Test cricket.

Domination of older players: Keshav Maharaj, Asif Afridi, and Simon Harmer recorded five-wicket hauls

In the first innings of the Test match, while Pakistan scored 333 runs, the 35-year-old South African left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj recorded a seven-wicket haul as he had the bowling figures of 42.4-5-102-7. After Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon (four times), Maharaj became the second non-Asian bowler to record multiple seven-wicket hauls in Test cricket in Asia, while he previously recorded it in the 2018 Colombo (SSC) Test against Sri Lanka by recording nine wickets (9/129).

While South Africa replied with 404 all out, the 38-year-old Pakistan left-arm spinner Asif Afridi, who made his international cricket debut, recorded the bowling figures of 34.3-6-79-6.

Pakistan were bundled out for only 138 runs in their second innings, where the 36-year-old off-spinner Simon Harmer claimed a six-fer, as he had the bowling figures of 20-5-50-6. 

See Also: Simon Harmer joins elite 1,000-wicket club with historic Test milestone

First time three different bowlers over 35 years old recorded five-wicket hauls

This is the first time in Test cricket history that three different bowlers over 35 years old recorded a fifer in a Test match. The record of two bowlers over 35 years old claimed the five-wicket haul in a Test match happened 10 times before the 2025 Rawalpindi Test match between Pakistan and South Africa. 

It was the must-win Test for South Africa to only level the series, as they suffered a defeat in the first Test of the two-match Test series by 93 runs at Lahore. While South Africa had a target of 68 runs in the fourth innings, they comfortably chased that target by losing two wickets, as they won the Test match by eight wickets.