Javed Miandad’s 48-year record broken by South African debutant

Javed Miandad’s 48-year-old record has finally been broken. South Africa’s young wicketkeeper-batter Luan-Dre Pretorius rewrote the record books on Saturday by producing a dream performance in his Test debut against Zimbabwe.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, at just 19 years and 93 days, Pretorius announced his arrival on the international stage with a brilliant knock of 153 runs, surpassing Pakistan legend Javed Miandad’s long-standing record.

Miandad, who made his own iconic debut in 1976 during the Lahore Test against New Zealand, scored 163 runs at the age of 19 years and 119 days, becoming the youngest player at the time to hit a century on Test debut.

Pretorius also leapfrogged another South African great, Graeme Pollock, who achieved a debut century in 1964 at 19 years and 317 days.

With this performance, Pretorius joins the elite list of youngest debut centurions in Test history, placing himself alongside the likes of Pakistan’s Saleem Malik, India’s Prithvi Shaw, Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza, and Bangladesh’s Mohammad Ashraful.

He now stands as the fifth-youngest player globally to score a Test century on debut.

In addition to this, Pretorius becomes only the seventh South African batter in history to score a century in his maiden Test appearance.