“I waited a long time for my chance, but I never gave up,” says 29-year-old Ghulam. “I had been waiting for my opportunity. That’s all I was thinking about. I kept getting selected and then left out of the selections, and all I was thinking about was how to take the opportunity I was given.”

That thinking has paid off well. Ghulam came into the team under immense pressure when he replaced Babar Azam. The stakes were further raised by the situation he was walking into: Pakistan were 19 for 2, having lost Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique cheaply as England’s spinners threatened to mutiny.

“When I got to the wicket, we had lost two wickets. But I wanted to play with a positive mind, like in first-class cricket. That was in the back of my mind and I wanted to play my natural game.”

And Ghulam’s domestic oeuvre is particularly extensive. Only twelve players have scored more points in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy since making his debut in 2013, with an average of just under 50, putting him behind only Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel and Usman Salahuddin.

He drew on that as he negotiated a tricky opening session, banking his aggressive shots before lunch and laying the foundation for a 149-run partnership with Saim Ayub that gently eased England’s grip on the game. He hung around when Ayub fell and built another 65-run stand with Mohammad Rizwan, one in which he brought up his century with a knock over midwicket from Joe Root. By the time he fell and missed a drive from Shoaib Bashir who cleared him, he had scored 118 – his 17th first-class hundred.

“I have scored a lot of first-class runs,” Ghulam said. “I didn’t care about the location or the team, I just had to make my debut. I knew I had a lot of hard work behind me, and luckily that work paid off.”

He also acknowledged the circumstances in which he had made his debut and paid tribute to the man he replaced in the squad. “Babar is a very good player and in the back of my mind I thought he was a legend, a very good player. But I thought I would give 110% and play with a positive attitude. I knew I had to take my chance. ” .”

“And,” he says in his vulnerable, soft tone and with characteristic understatement, “when it came to that, I did it right.”