Debutant Fakhar Zaman and captain Sarfaraz Ahmed's 147-run partnership for the sixth wicket helped Pakistan to recover from 57/5 and post a decent toal of 282 runs in the first innings of second Test against Australia at Abu Dhabi.
After opting to bat first Pakistan lost last match's centurion Hafeez early and Azhar Ali-Fakhar Zaman added 52 runs for the second wicket but Nathan's 4 wickets in the space of 6 balls reduced Pakistan to 57/5 from 57/1 and put Pakistan in dire strats. Debutant Fakhar Zaman was rock solid at one end and Sarfaraz Ahmed's counter attacking innings inspired a great comeback.
Both Sarfaraz and Fakhar scored 94 runs each before getting out off Marnus Labuschagne's bowling and Pakistan finished with 282 runs in their first innings on a spin friendly track. In reply, Australia also had a poor start and lost 2 wickets for just 20 runs at stumps.
All the major stats and facts from the first day of second Test between Pakistan and Australia in Abu Dhabi :
4 - Fakhar Zaman became the 4th Pakistani batsman to get out in nervous 90s on Test debut.
Pakistani batsmen dismissed in 90s on Test debut -
Abdul Kadir - 95 vs Australia at Karachi, 1990
Taslim Arif - 90 vs India at Kolkata, 1980
Asim Kamal - 99 vs South Africa at Lahore, 2003
Fakhar Zaman - 94 vs Australia at Abu Dhabi, 2018
10 - Number of Tests Mohammad Abbas needed to take 50 wickets - the joint fastest among pacers and overall second fastest to take 50 Test wickets for Pakistan.
Fastests to 50 Test wickets for Pakistan -
Yasir Shah - 9 Tests
Mohammad Abbas - 10 Tests
Waqar Younis - 10 Tests
Mohammad Asif - 10 Tests
Shabbir Ahmed - 10 Tests
18 - Sarfaraz Ahmed has now scored 18 fifty plus scores in Test cricket - the joint most by a wicket keeper for Pakistan.
Most 50 plus scores by a Pakistani wicket keeper in Test cricket -
Sarfaraz Ahmed - 18
Kamran Akmal - 18
Moin Khan - 18
Imtiaz Ahmed - 14
Rashid Latif - 8
52 - Sarfaraz Ahmed scored his fifty in 52 balls - the joint third fastest by Pakistani captain in Test cricket.
Fastest 50s in Tests by Pakistan captains (In terms of balls) -
21 - Misbah ul Haq vs Australia at Abu Dhabi, 2014
35 - Wasim Akram vs Australia at Perth, 1999
52 - Imran Khan vs India at Faisalabad, 1983
52 - Misbah ul Haq vs Bangladesh at Mirpur, 2015
52 - Sarfaraz Ahmed vs Australia at Abu Dhabi, 2018
94 - Both Fakhar Zaman and Sarfaraz Ahmed got out on the same score of 94 - only the 4th instance of two batsmen getting out on the same score in the 90s in an innings in Test cricket.
Two batsmen dismissed for the same score in the 90s in an innings in Tests -
99 - Majid Khan / Mushtaq Mohammad (PAK) vs ENG at Karachi, 1973
96 - Mark Taylor / Ricky Ponting (AUS) vs SL at Perth, 1995
90 - VVS Laxman / Irfan Pathan (IND) vs PAK at Faisalabad, 2006
94 - Fakhar Zaman / Sarfaraz Ahmed (PAK) vs AUS at Abu Dhabi, 2018