PAK vs ENG: Here are the records broken and milestones achieved by England on Day 1 of 1st Test

England got off to a dominant start in the three-match Test series against Pakistan in Rawalpindi on Thursday, amassing over 500 runs as records tumbled on Day 1.

As many as four batters scored centuries after England opted to make first use of what was a batting paradise prepared by the Pindi Cricket Stadium curator. Openers Zak Crawley (122) and Ben Duckett (107) smashed tons and shared a 233-run opening stand to push the Babar Azam-led side to the backfoot.

The Pakistanis appeared to be fighting back by dismissing both Crawley and Duckett in a space of a few deliveries, and getting rid of former captain and batting star Joe Root (23) — the only Englishman to be dismissed for less than 100 on the opening day.

Wicketkeeper-batter Ollie Pope and Harry Brook, however, would continue to make mincemeat of the Pakistani attack with a 176-run fourth-wicket stand that ensured the tourists remained firmly in control.

Here are some of the records that were broken and milestones achieved on the opening day of the Test:

— England are now the first team to score 500 runs on the opening day of a Test. The record had previously belonged to Australia, who had scored 494 runs against South Africa in Sydney in 1910.

— England fell just three runs short of the record for most runs scored in any given day of a Test hosted in Asia; Sri Lanka, who scored 509 runs on Day 2 against Bangladesh at Colombo’s P Sara Oval, still hold that record.

— The 506 runs scored by England stands at the fifth spot in the record for most runs collected on any given day of a Test.

— The score of 506/4 however, is the highest score by an away team across any given day of a Test

— This is also the first instance of four batters scoring tons on the opening day of a Test.

What made England’s feat on the opening day even more impressive was the fact that several members of the English squad were bogged down by illness in the build-up to the series opener, which nearly forced the Pakistan Cricket Board to postpone the match. The illness forced the visitors to hand the wicketkeeper’s gloves to Pope with Ben Foakes yet to fully recover on Thursday morning.

The hosts too had missed out on pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi, who had undergone surgery for appendicitis and had also been dealing with a host of other issues.

As many as three Pakistani bowlers — pacers Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ali and legspinner Zahid Mahmood — made their Test debuts in Rawalpindi. Both Rauf and Ali got a wicket each while Mahmood accounted for the dismissals of Duckett and Root.

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