The Faisalabad Test will always find a special mention in the annals of Test cricket for a number of reasons. The batsmen from either side took full advantage of the flattest track one would ever see and made runs with the ridiculous ease. 1702 runs were scored in the match for the loss of 28 wickets – a daily average of more than 340 runs and less than six wickets! A total of 15 centuries were made in the match – six by batsmen and nine by bowlers.
More remarkably, as many as 27 sixes were hit in the Test – 18 by Pakistan batsmen (6 by Shahid Afridi, 5 by Mohammad Yousuf, 3 by Shoaib Akhtar, 2 by Abdul Razzaq and one apiece by Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan) and 9 by Indians (4 by MS Dhoni, 2 apiece by Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh and one by Zaheer Khan).
The 27-sixes in the match established a new world record of most number of sixes hit in a Test match. The previous record was of 23 sixes in a match between hosts New Zealand and England at Christchurch in 2001-02. The accompanying table has the details:
Most sixes in a Test
6s Countries Venue Season
27 Pak (18) v Ind (9) Faisalabad 2005-06
23 NZ (13) v Eng (10) Christchurch 2001-02
22 Pak (10) v NZ (12) Karachi 1976-77
19 WI (18) v Eng (1) St.John's 1985-86
19 Ind (8) v Pak (11) Madras 1986-87
19 Aus (17) v Zim (2) Perth 2003-04
19 NZ (14) v SA (5) Auckland 2003-04
19 Pak (14) v Eng (5) Faisalabad 2005-06
18 Eng (16) v Aus (2) Birmingham 2005
17 SA (11) v WI (6) Cape Town 2003-04
The 18 sixes hit by Pakistan batsmen in their two innings in the Faisalabad Test (11 in the first and 7 in the second) also equalled the existing world record of most sixes hit by a side in a Test match. The details:
Most sixes by a side in a Test
6s Countries Venue Season
18 WI v Eng St.John's 1985-86
18 Pak v Ind Faisalabad 2005-06
17 Aus v Zim Perth 2003-04
16 Eng v Aus Birmingham 2005
15 Pak v NZ Lahore 2001-02
14 SL v NZ Auckland 1990-91
14 NZ v SA Auckland 2003-04
14 Pak v Eng Faisalabad 2005-06
