Australia vs Pakistan, 2019: 1st Test, Day 1 – Best opening stand at Gabba, Babar's misery in Australia, Cummins' best year and more stats

Australia holds the advantage at the end of the first day in Brisbane following a typical Pakistan’s performance with the bat. After electing to bat first, Pakistan went into lunch having not lost a wicket. An opening stand of 75 runs put the visitors on the top but they lost four wickets for three runs including both openers. Asad Shafiq’s 76 played a key role in reviving the lost momentum of Pakistan’s innings. They recovered from 94/5 to 227/6 before losing their last four wickets to the new ball for just 13 runs.

All the statistical highlights from the opening day of the Gabba Test match:

Best ever start to a Gabba Test:

1 – For the first time, Australia failed to pick up a wicket in the opening session of a Gabba Test match while bowling first. The Aussies took at least one wicket in the first session of a Gabba Test on previous 24 instances where they bowled first.

75 – The 75-run partnership between Azhar Ali and Shan Masood is now the highest opening stand by a visiting team in the first innings of a Gabba Test. The previous highest was 64 by New Zealand pair of Bruce Edgar and John Wright in 1980.

Another youngster from Pakistan:

16y 279d – At the age of 16 years and 279 days, Naseem Shah became the 9th youngest player to make his Test debut. Naseem is the 7th player from Pakistan and the 11th overall to make Test debut before turning 17. Three other players are from Bangladesh and one from India (Sachin Tendulkar).

16y 279d – Naseem Shah is also the youngest player ever to play a Test match on Australian soil. Pakistan’s Aaqib Javed was 17 years and 160 days old when he featured in the 1990 Melbourne Test match against the home team.

Hazlewood’s bunny:

5/7 – Babar Azam now has been dismissed five times by Josh Hazlewood in seven Test innings he played on Australian soil. In those seven innings, Babar aggregated only 69 runs and averages a lowly 9.85.

6000 – Babar completed 6000 runs in International cricket with the sole run he scored on day 1. He now averages 47.61 across all formats which is the highest for any player from Pakistan who has aggregated 6000 International runs.

Cummins’ best year:

46 – Pat Cummins now has picked up 46 wickets in Test cricket in 2019; the most Test wickets for him in a calendar year. He bagged 44 wickets in 2018 despite playing one Test lesser. However, he bowled in 16 Test innings thus far in 2019 and also in 2018.

20.34 – Cummins has a bowling average of 20.34 in Test cricket while not opening the bowling. He claimed 83 wickets in 31 innings with three 5-wicket hauls. This is the best average for any fast bowler in the history of Test cricket while coming to bowl as first change or later. (Min: 50 wickets)