In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five-for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a significant achievement. As of October 2025, 178 cricketers have taken a five-wicket haul on their debut in a Test match, with 15 of them being taken by Pakistani players. They have taken a five-wicket haul on debut against seven different opponents: four times against Australia, three times against New Zealand and South Africa each, twice against England, and once against Bangladesh, India and Zimbabwe each. Of the 15 occasions, Pakistan won the match five times, and drew seven times. The players have taken five-wicket hauls at 11 different venues, including seven outside Pakistan; four of them have achieved the feat at the National Stadium, Karachi.
Arif Butt was the first Pakistani player to take a five-wicket haul on his Test debut, he took six wickets for 89 runs against Australia in 1964. Mohammad Nazir, Mohammad Zahid, and Abrar Ahmed are the only bowlers to have taken seven wickets each. Four bowlers have taken six wickets each and six others have taken five wickets on debut. Zahid took seven wickets for 66 runs, the best bowling figures by a Pakistani bowler on debut, against New Zealand in 1996, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. He accumulated 11 wickets for 130 runs in the match, the first Pakistani to take 10 or more wickets in a Test match on debut. Amongst the bowlers, Noman Ali is the most economical, with 1.37 runs per over, and Zahid has the best strike rate. As of 2025, the most recent bowler to achieve the feat is Asif Afridi. He took six wickets for 79 runs against South Africa in 2025 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
Abrar Ahmed became the first Pakistani bowler to take a five-wicket haul in the opening session of a test match and also on debut.
Key Symbol Meaning Date Date the match was held, or starting date of the match for Test matches Inn The innings of the match in which the five-wicket haul was taken Overs Number of overs bowled in that innings Runs Runs conceded Wkts Number of wickets taken Econ Bowling economy rate (average runs per over) Batsmen The batsmen whose wickets were taken in the five-wicket haul Result The result for the Pakistan team in that match Bowler selected as "Man of the match" 10 wickets or more taken in the match Drawn The match was drawn
Five-wicket hauls + Five-wicket hauls on Test debut by Pakistani bowlersNo.BowlerDateGroundAgainstInnOversRunsWktsEconBatsmenResult 1 Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne Bob Simpson Bill Lawry Brian Booth Tom Veivers David Sincock Garth McKenzie Drawn 2 National Stadium, Karachi Graham Dowling Bruce Murray Brian Hastings Mark Burgess Vic Pollard Bob Cunis Hedley Howarth Drawn 3 Sheikhupura Stadium, Sheikhupura ADR Campbell Andy Flower Craig Wishart Andy Whittall Henry Olonga Drawn 4 Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi Bryan Young Justin Vaughan Adam Parore Lee Germon Nathan Astle Chris Harris Dipak Patel Won 5 National Stadium, Karachi Mark Waugh Steve Waugh Darren Lehmann Gavin Robertson Glenn McGrath Drawn 6 Eden Park, Auckland Paul Wiseman Mathew Sinclair Craig McMillan James Franklin Daryl Tuffey Won 7 National Stadium, Karachi Sanwar Hossain Rajin Saleh Khaled Mahmud Tapash Baisya Mohammad Rafique Won 8 M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore Wasim Jaffer Rahul Dravid V. V. S. Laxman Dinesh Karthik Harbhajan Singh Drawn 9 The Oval, London Andrew Strauss Jonathan Trott Kevin Pietersen Eoin Morgan Stuart Broad Won 10 Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi(neutral venue) Graeme Smith Alviro Petersen Hashim Amla Jacques Kallis Mark Boucher Paul Harris Drawn 11 Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai(neutral venue) Shaun Marsh Usman Khawaja Travis Head Marnus Labuschagne Tim Paine Nathan Lyon Drawn 12 National Stadium, Karachi Aiden Markram George Linde Kagiso Rabada Anrich Nortje Temba Bavuma Won 13 Abrar Ahmed Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan Zak Crawley Ben Duckett Joe Root Ollie Pope Harry Brook Ben Stokes Will Jacks Lost 14 Perth Stadium, Perth Travis Head David Warner Alex Carey Mitchell Starc Pat Cummins Nathan Lyon Lost 15 Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi Tony de Zorzi Dewald Brevis Kyle Verreynne Tristan Stubbs Simon Harmer Kagiso Rabada Lost
See also List of cricketers who have taken five-wicket hauls on Test debut
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