Pakistan v Australia, 2018: 1st Test, Day 1 – Statistical Highlights

Pakistan batted out Australia in the first two sessions with their new opening pair of Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez sharing a 205-run partnership. The Australian bowlers failed to produce any chance till Tea interval on what seemed to be a flat track. Hafeez, in his comeback to Test cricket, scored 126 before getting out to Peter Siddle while Imam scored 76. Australia made a mini-comeback in the final session restricting Pakistan to 56 runs and took the wickets of the top three batsmen.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the first day of the Test series in UAE:

1 – Nathan Lyon is the only player in Australia’s playing XI of this Test match to be part of their last Test in Asia which was played at Chittagong against Bangladesh in 2017. Australia took the field in Dubai with as many as three Test debutants.

8 – This match is only the 8th in the history of Test cricket where both the team captains were wicketkeepers. Sarfraz Ahmed is leading Pakistan while Tim Paine is Australia’s keeper-captain.

10 – Number of centuries Mohammad Hafeez has scored in his Test cricket thus far. All those hundreds he scored in this format have come while opening the innings. These are the second most number of centuries in Test cricket for a Pakistan player as an opener after Saeed Anwar (11).

205 – The 205-run partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez is only the 5th double century opening stand for Pakistan in the longest format. Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam put on 215 at this very ground in 2016 against Windies which is the only other such partnership for Pakistan since 2001.

378 – Number of balls Australia needed to take the first wicket of Pakistan. These are the second most number of deliveries Australia bowled before taking the first wicket of an innings since 2001. England batted out 398 deliveries before losing their first wicket in their second innings of the 2010 Brisbane Test.

1986 – The last instance of Australia conceding a 200-run opening stand in the first innings of a Test match was way back in 1986. England’s CWJ Athey and Chris Broad shared 223 on the opening day of the 1986 Perth Test.

The 205-run stand between Imam and Hafeez is also the second highest opening stand in Test cricket by any pair in these 31 years against Australia. Indian opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay put on 289 in the 2013 Mohali Test.

4957 – Aaron Finch has scored 4957 runs thus far in his seven-year International career. These are the most number of runs scored by any player in International cricket prior to his Test debut.

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