A strike rate of less than 50 is probably not what Mickey Arthur and Sarfraz Ahmed had in mind when they were imagining Fakhar Zaman's Test debut. Granted he only got in because of an injury to Imam-ul-Haq, but Arthur especially has been keen on injecting the Test side with some of the urgency Fakhar has brought to Pakistan's white-ball teams.
In the circumstances, however, they wouldn't have minded Fakhar going at 47.47 in an impressive debut 94. That's slow for Fakhar but it still puts him behind only Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez's career strike rates among Pakistan's recent openers.
But 57 for 5 on the first morning of a Test, having watched a collapse of 4 for 0 from the other end, has a way of forcing a change in approach. In any case Arthur and Sarfraz would've been pleasantly surprised that Fakhar was able to do so.
"Actually I changed my game because of the situation," Fakhar told the Wisden.com radio broadcast after play. "Before the game I was just looking to play my natural game. But after that situation, 57 for 5, after that, I was just looking to take my time because we weren't in a good position to play naturally.
Fakhar put on 147 with Sarfraz Ahmed, a partnership in which the captain was the aggressor, especially post-lunch. Sarfraz later acknowledged that having a partner like Fakhar, who is good at rotating the strike, helped him rediscover his form.
The truth for Fakhar, however, was that Sarfraz's initiative helped him move quietly under the scanner for two-thirds of the day.
"Actually Sarfraz plays spin really well always and he was feeling comfortable. I was not feeling comfortable with the spinners, so I was just blocking balls and taking my time.
"After those wickets we were just talking about taking our time. There was a bit of moisture on the wicket. After lunch we thought it would get better and it was after a while, so then we started scoring our runs."
The partnership helped Pakistan get to 280, a score that, halfway through the morning session on the second day, was looking formidable.
"It is a very good score for us. If our bowlers bowl well tomorrow (Wednesday) we will be in a very good position. The wicket of Khawaja was really good for us, because he was in form and playing spinners well, so good for us."