Imam-ul-Haq

Bespectacled opener Imam-ul-Haq gave the lie to critics who said he was in the side on account of his famous uncle Inzamam, at the time the lead selector for Pakistan. In his first ODI, against Sri Lanka in 2017, Imam produced a round 100, and he followed up with three centuries inside ten days in Zimbabwe the following year, having - fortuitously perhaps - been benched for most of Pakistan's disastrous ODI tour of New Zealand at the start of 2018 in between.

That year he made his Test debut against Ireland in their first Test, coming to Pakistan's rescue with a fourth-innings 74 not out. That was followed by something of a comedown in the two away Tests against England, where Stuart Broad had his number. But as if to underline that the four hundreds in his first nine ODIs were no fluke, he made six scores of over 50 in his next 11, four of them over 70, and one hundred, marked by the emphatic drives and prolific scoring off his hips that became his calling card.

That shining two-year run culminated in 151 against England leading into the 2019 World Cup, by which time he was averaging a career-high 60.

In Tests, that point arguably came four years and 12 matches into an on-and-off career, when he made two hundreds, including a first-innings 157 in a Rawalpindi slugfest draw against Australia. When he faced England at the same venue at the tail end of 2022, Imam made 121 in a Pakistan total of 579 and 48 in the second innings, but Ben Stokes' England outgunned them in that game and the series with their frenzied scoring.

Through his time in Test cricket, Imam developed a reputation as something of a second-innings specialist, averaging a startling 48 in the second dig against 29 in the first.