Usman Khawaja, who scored an outstanding fourth-innings century to deny Pakistan victory in the first Test in Dubai, garnered praise from both the captains – Sarfraz Ahmed and Tim Paine – after the game.

“Credit goes to Usman Khawaja. He really was a lone warrior and it’s because of him that this match was drawn. The way he batted, all credit goes to him,” said Pakistan skipper Ahmed, after his team failed to pick up the last two Australian wickets before stumps were drawn.

“On a fifth day, it’s not easy to bat on these kinds of pitches. With all the rough patches it was very difficult to bat.”

It wasn’t just Khawaja, of course. Debutants Aaron Finch (49) and Travis Head (72) contributed in the early part of the resistance, and Paine held on towards the end, scoring an unbeaten 61. “Tim Paine deserves a lot of credit as well. I’m very disappointed with the result but today cricket is the winner,” said Ahmed.

“It was a really tough five days. Pakistan played outstandingly well and put us under pressure from the first day. For us to get a draw out of that from where we came from at one stage on the third day is an outstanding effort from our group and we can be very proud of that.

“We want to be a team that fights all the time and never gives in. I think we can take a lot of belief out of what’s happened in the last few days and take that through to the next Test with confidence.”

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Usman KhawajaMatch CoverageInternational CricketSarfraz AhmedTim Paine