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Naseem Shah will spend it revelling in and recuperating from his first day as a Test cricketer.
Pakistan captain Azhar Ali confirmed Naseem would be making his Test debut in the summer opener at The Gabba.
When the teen walks out on Thursday morning he will make history as the youngest player to ever make his Test debut in Australia at the age of 16 years and 279 days.
Despite his age, Pakistan are not treating Naseem any differently to the rest of the squad. He has the same curfew and is free of the burden of schoolwork.
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He’s a Test cricketer now and for the moment at least the books can wait.
He’s the latest in a long line of Pakistani quicks to enter the Test scene in his teens. He’s one of three teenagers in the current Pakistan squad in fact, with 19-year-old Shaheen Afridi likely to feature at The Gabba as well.
Having debuted himself as a 17-year-old, Pakistan great Wasim Akram believes it is simply a case of if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
If anything, he believes Naseem will benefit from debuting so young.
“I think it’s a blessing in disguise because when you’re 16-17, you don’t even know what the word pressure means,” Akram told foxsports.com.au.
“You just want to go out and play. When I was 17, I didn’t know what pressure meant, I was loving it.
“I think the same goes for Naseem. When he becomes a star he’ll know what pressure means. At this age he’ll just be raring to go.”
Nevertheless, Akram stressed the importance of the teenager having senior players to turn to on the field in the same way he had Imran Khan and Javed Miandad in the early days of his international career.
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“They have one of the best bowlers of all time in the coaching staff, Waqar Younis, but he won’t be on the field,” he said.
“Someone has to be there next him at mid-on or mid-off, the captain or a senior player who can just guide him.
“A 16-year-old doesn’t know how to set the field, they just won’t. That’s where the captain comes in particularly valuable.
“I had Imran Khan, I had Javed Miandad and they were a great help.”
That means captain Azhar Ali has a huge role to play and the good news is he’s already captained Naseem in domestic cricket.
The budding quick made his first-class debut as a 15-year-old with Lahore and has now played five first-class matches under Ali. He’s left his mark on the Pakistani veteran.
“When I saw him first I was so surprised (by) the control he had and the pace he had,”Ali said on Wednesday.
“On top of all, the temperament and the composure when he bowls is so exciting to see.
“Not many players can reach that (Test) standard so early but there are exceptions and he’s one of them and we’re all looking forward to it that he has a very successful career.”
The captain is similarly at ease with the youngster’s fitness, backing him to get through bulk overs if needed.
“He is very fit. I’ve captained him in first-class matches so he has overs in his belt. I’m sure that he can do that in Test matches as well. I have no doubts in his fitness and his bowling skills.”
Naseem, who has taken 27 wickets at 16.66 in first-class cricket, has looked a certainty to play since rocking Australia A in Perth last week.
While he only took 1-21 from his eight overs, he looked too hot to handle for the Australians. It was also a remarkably courageous performance that came soon after the passing of his mother back home during the match.
“He lost his mother recently and obviously a very hard time for him but he coped with it very nicely,” Ali said.
“He came out to bowl the very next day which is a very hard thing to see.”
For anyone to debut at 16 they have to have had a meteoric rise but that’s even more so the case for Naseem, who didn’t even have bowling shoes two years ago.
Raised in the north-west of Pakistan, it was only when he ventured south to join an academy that his prodigious talent was unearthed.
“Someone asked to see his bowling and he was just like in normal shoes, not even spikes,” Ali said.
“He bowled the first couple of deliveries and he was rapid fast, very quick.”
“He is from KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan’s far north) and he came to Lahore to play cricket. So in two three years he has covered that distance to Test cricket.”