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Malik and Shafiq send records tumbling

Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq sent statisticians racing for the record books during Pakistan's first innings against England at Abu Dhabi

245 – Number of runs Shoaib Malik scored playing his first Test in more than five years. It is the highest score by any Pakistan batsman in the 23 Tests in the United Arab Emirates. The previous best was 236, also at Abu Dhabi, by Taufeeq Umar against Sri Lanka in 2011. Malik’s effort is the third highest individual score by a Pakistan batsman against England, only behind Javed Miandad (260) and Zaheer Abbas (274).

Interestingly, it is first time in the history of Tests that a batsman has been dismissed on 245. From 0 to 250, the only two scores on which a batsman has not been dismissed yet now are 229 and 238.

Malik has also broken into the list of top ten highest scores by Pakistan batsman. 

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647 – Number of minutes Shoaib Malik batted in the first innings of the Abu Dhabi Test. No other Pakistan batsman has stayed on the wicket longer than him against England. The previous record was 617 minutes by Javed Miandad when he scored 260 at the Oval in 1987.

8 – Number of centuries Asad Shafiq has amassed batting at number six in Tests. The only other batsman to have eight hundreds batting at this position is the West Indies legend Garry Sobers.

16 – Number of hundreds Pakistan batsmen have scored in the eight Tests in Abu Dhabi which means on average they score two 100s in each Test. Their overall batting average at this venue is 52.48, the second highest at all the venues where they have played at least five Tests. 

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302 – Number of runs England’s slow bowlers conceded in the first innings without taking a wicket. They bowled 70 overs between them, including an over as an off-spinner by Ben Stokes, and didn’t come close to taking a wicket. All the eight wickets were taken by the seamers, even the missed chances – two dropped catches and a wicket off No Ball – came off the pacers.

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163 – Number of runs conceded by the England leg spinner Adil Rashid, the most by anyone without a wicket on Test debut. This unwanted record previously belonged to Australia’s Bryce McGain, another leggie, who had went for 149 in 18 overs against South Africa at Cape Town in 2009.

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34 - None of the 34 overs bowled by Adil Rashid was a maiden. Among England players only Andy Caddick (36 overs against Australia at Birmingham in 2001) has bowled more overs than Rashid without a maiden.

248 – Number of runs Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq put together in a partnership, making it Pakistan’s highest 5th wicket stand against England in Tests. The previous record was 197 between Javed Burki and Nasim-ul-Ghani at Lord’s in 1962.

56 – The partnership between Alastair Cook and Moeen Ali, the highest opening stand by England in the four Tests against Pakistan in the UAE. In the three Tests played in 2012 not even once England’s opening stand went past 50.

7 Number of batsmen who have paired with Alastair Cook at the opening slot since Andrew Strauss’s retirement. England have used Nick Compton, Joe Root, Michael Carberry, Sam Robson, Jonathan Trott, Adam Lyth and now Moeen Ali as partner with Cook since Strauss’s retirement in August 2012.

5 – Number of times Pakistan have declared the innings in the last three Tests in Abu Dhabi. The declaration against England at 523 for eight was Pakistan’s fifth consecutive declaration at this venue. They had declared twice against New Zealand and Australia in 2014.

2 – Number of centuries England and Pakistan batsmen had scored in the 2012 series in the United Arab Emirates. Both the centuries had come in the third Test – by Azhar Ali and Younis Khan. This series, just into its second day, has already seen two hundred-plus scores by Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq.