It was a truly historic occasion and the buildup to the first ball was laden with meaning and emotion; no one could be in doubt that this was a major occasion.
After all the speeches were spoken and the fanfare and anthems were done, Imam-ul-Haq walked out to the middle of the small and intimate venue and stood at the non-striker’s end.
He watched as the first ball was bowled and squirted to the leg side then hared off for a tight single.
Struggling to make his ground, he threw himself into a dive for the crease as a fielder tried to kick the ball onto the stumps and the wicketkeeper entered the melee.
There were groans all round as Imam smacked his head on the keeper’s hip and thudded to the ground, lying prone for several minutes.
This was Malahide, Pakistan were playing in Ireland’s inaugural Test match, Imam was making his debut and, before he even faced a ball, he was bang in the middle of a comedic-but-scary run out chance.
For a player trying to emerge from the considerable shadow of his uncle Inzamam, legendary batter, national selector and infamous star of comedic-and-sometimes-scary run outs, it was hardly an auspicious start.
His first innings was a short-lived 7, but his second dug Pakistan out of a hole; they were 3 for 14 chasing 160 on the final day and Imam’s calm and composed 74 saved his side from what would have been an historic loss to a newbie in Test cricket.
Fast forward three years to Rawalpindi, another historic occasion, and another opportunity for Imam to open, brought into the starting XI after Abid Ali was diagnosed with a heart condition.
In between these two games there have been a smattering of Test matches - this is just his 12th - for Imam, running alongside his more consistent and fruitful ODI career, never quite doing enough to fulfil the promise of Malahide and establish himself as the long-term first choice opener.
Those peppered opportunities have generally come in tough series, away to England, in South Africa and Pakistan’s horror short tour of Australia in 2019.
Along the way Imam has had a fractious relationship with fans, openly irritated by the charges of nepotism that come with every selection.
In 2019, upon scoring an ODI century against South Africa at Supersport Park, Imam made a yapping-mouth gesture the put his finger to his lips.
In case there was any doubt as to his meaning, he made it clear after the match.
"I am the nephew of the chief selector,” said Imam.
“To all the people who criticised me over the years, the media and the people, I want to thank them. This has been possible because of them.”
If that resentment still drives him, he put it to good use in his first Test on Pakistan soil.
All week, Australia had spoken about assessing the right tempo when batting but here Imam gave them a lesson in when to bat grindingly lento, moving smoothly through moderato to punishing allegro and back again.
He scored just 7 runs of the first 41 deliveries he faced and some shots were a little streaky, but Imam’s ODI career has been built on getting himself set through the tough periods and capitalising at the right time.
There was little in the way of swing or seam to deal with, and yet Australia’s lines and lengths were sufficiently probing to make things interesting.
Of course, it helped that the pitch was perfect for batting and Pat Cummins was forced to turn to his part-time spinners after opting to play three fast bowlers and Nathan Lyon.
The sight of Lyon warming up in the first half hour seemed ominous but when Travis Head took the ball for the 17th over you could almost sense the glee of Imam and Abdullah Shafique in the middle.
But Imam had more patience than Shafique, who played a wild shot off Lyon that would produce the only wicket of the day.
Light on his feet to Lyon and Head, he delightfully skipped and launched anything temptingly loose down the ground, one full delivery from Lyon scathingly hammered over long-off for six, drawing appreciative cries of “Kya shot, hai!”.
He was assured in getting on top of the bounce when the quicks tried to bang it in hard, quick to clip away any balls that strayed onto the pads and gradually unfurled the more expansive and classy shots to the pacers, with Azhar Ali the perfect foil at the other end.
The tempo slowed to Adagietto as Imam reached the 90s, but a crisp drive through the covers off Mitchell Starc to bring up his maiden century in his first home Test opened a floodgate of emotion.
After the leap and the roar, Imam hugged Azhar for what seemed an age, removed his gloves, then his helmet.
He performed sajda before pointing to the dressing room but there was no general acknowledgement of the crowd, no turning to the various stands at Rawalpindi; perhaps those cuts have not fully healed.
“It's a journey I cannot explain in my words,” said Imam after stumps.
“But yeah, it's been a tough journey for me.
“But that's how you progress I guess. And in my case, there's always been a tough hurdle there for me, so I just wanted to make it count for me and for my family.
“I don't have words to explain how I’m feeling right now but yeah, there was a process which I had to believe and there were some things which I really needed to work hard on and I did that.
“The thing [that] really matters in my life is the people, the surroundings which I have and Al Hamdulillah I'm very blessed that I have these very positive surroundings and thanks to Almighty Allah to my family who supported this for last 2, 3, 4 years of my international career, and I'm very happy about that.”
Perhaps this is the start of a new phase for Imam; two more home series against England and New Zealand follow two Tests in Sri Lanka and it may be he has timed his return to the side as well as he timed his attack against Australia on day one.
While he may never be able to fully shake the weight that comes with his family name, it may help that Inzamam is no longer a selector.
And so let’s not make too much of the fact that there was a certain young Pakistan batter in the early 90s who was seen as an ODI boy wonder and won a World Cup, but had a scratchy start to his Test career.
That nameless batter averaged 33 after his first 12 Tests before blossoming into a legend in whites.
That name - which we won’t mention - is on the centurions honours board at Rawalpindi that will soon be engraved with Imam’s own moniker.
If you do mention that other player, whisper it quietly, because Imam-ul-Haq deserves his own moment in the Pindi sunshine; it may be the first of many.
