Pakistan’s teen bowling sensation Naseem Shah became the ninth youngest debutante in men’s Test cricket and the youngest ever on Australian soil as the 16-year-old played the opening Test in Gabba.

He was faced with a challenge on the very first ball he faced in international cricket as he walked out to bat on Mitchell Starc’s hat-trick ball. He deflected the ball away but didn’t take a run. He made seven runs off 12 balls with one boundary before his stay was eventually ended by Starc off a caught and bowled

But the real test for the teenager will be when he has to bowl on Friday. Pakistan were all out for 240 just before stumps. Shah made the grade for the first Test after impressing with an eight-over spell against Australia A in Perth.

The 16-year-old has only played seven first-class games and while selectors clearly like what they see, how he copes in the heat of battle against world-class batsmen such as Steve Smith and David Warner remains to be seen.

Also read: Naseem Shah will be raring to go at Gabba as Pakistan confirm debut

Only handful of players have made their debut aged 16, including Sachin Tendulkar who went on to become an Indian batting legend.

The youngest Test player is listed by Cricinfo as Pakistan’s Hasan Raza, who was 14 on his 1996 debut, though his date of birth was later disputed. Pakistan have a history of blooding promising players early, accounting for six of the 10 youngest male players to play Test matches while Bangladesh has three and Tendulkar is the lone Indian.

Youngest Test debutantes

PLAYER AGE  TEAM OPPOSITION  GROUND MATCH DATE
Hasan Raza 14y 227d Pakistan Zimbabwe Faisalabad 24 Oct 1996
Mushtaq Mohammad 15y 124d Pakistan West Indies Lahore 26 Mar 1959
Mohammad Sharif 15y 128d Bangladesh Zimbabwe Bulawayo 19 Apr 2001
Aaqib Javed 16y 189d Pakistan New Zealand Wellington 10 Feb 1989
SR Tendulkar 16y 205d India Pakistan Karachi 15 Nov 1989
Aftab Baloch 16y 221d Pakistan New Zealand Dhaka 8 Nov 1969
Talha Jubair 16y 223d Bangladesh Sri Lanka Colombo (PSS) 21 Jul 2002
Nasim-ul-Ghani 16y 248d Pakistan West Indies Bridgetown 17 Jan 1958
Naseem Shah 16y 279d Pakistan Australia Brisbane 21 Nov 2019
Enamul Haque jnr 16y 320d Bangladesh England Dhaka 21 Oct 2003
Khalid Hasan 16y 352d Pakistan England Nottingham 1 Jul 1954
Zahid Fazal 17y 5d Pakistan West Indies Karachi 15 Nov 1990
Mohammad Ashraful 17y 61d Bangladesh Sri Lanka Colombo (SSC) 6 Sep 2001
Ata-ur-Rehman 17y 68d Pakistan England Birmingham 4 Jun 1992
Nazmul Hossain 17y 73d Bangladesh India Chattogram 17 Dec 2004
PP Chawla 17y 75d India England Mohali 9 Mar 2006
Imran Nazir 17y 78d Pakistan Sri Lanka Lahore 4 Mar 1999
Mujeeb Ur Rahman 17y 78d Afghanistan India Bengaluru 14 Jun 2018
Mohammad Amir 17y 82d Pakistan Sri Lanka Galle 4 Jul 2009
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With AFP Inputs