Hafeez, Malik Steady Pakistan In First Test

Malik ended the day on 124, having added a crucial 168 for the second wicket with Mohammad Hafeez, who missed his century by two runs.

But Misbah departed to a thin edge behind off Anderson, as umpire Paul Reiffel had to overturn his initial not-out decision on DRS.

After reaching 499-4 at tea, wickets tumbled as Pakistan chased quick runs in the hope of inserting England as early as possible.

Broad was no balled after he thought he had got rid of Shoaib Malik who was on 40 and went on to 124 not out.

Asad Shafiq of Pakistan bats during the opening day of the first Test against England in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

England were made to pay for their poor fielding performance as Hafeez made 98, after being dropped on seven, before being dismissed LBW by Ben Stokes just before tea.

Shoaib, in his first Test for more than five years, turned his century into a career-best before lunch and then in the afternoon reached a tour-de-force nine-and-a-quarter hour double-hundred from 367 balls.

James Anderson was the pick of the bowlers from English side and took 2 wickets while Broad and Stokes took one wicket each.

Anderson’s entry into the upper echelons of the game’s leading Test bowlers was not the only record brought up on day one, with Pakistan No4 Younis Khan becoming his country’s all-time leading scorer in the format when he passed Javed Miandad’s 8,832 runs halfway through his innings of 38. But then Muhammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik established a 168-run partnership before Hafeez got out at 173 runs.

England’s misery was completed when Shafiq was also dropped by Bell at ten, spilling an easy catch off Anderson.

Most opponents find the sluggish pitches of the UAE, which are believed to give a marked advantage to spin bowling baffling, and not only did England play just two, two-day warm-up matches in the UAE to prepare for the Test series against Pakistan, spin is an area where England have little to offer.

Malik has so far hit 20 fours and a six during his solid 318-ball knock.

Misbah-ul-Haq made clear, interviewed on television after winning the toss, that he was unimpressed by the lack of contingency which left him with no available spin back-up once Yasir Shah failed to recover from his back spasm.

That left Pakistan with only one spinner, Zulfiqar Babar, and Pakistan is going into the match with three seamers – Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan and Rahat Ali. They included Rashid for his first Test.