Tim Paine’s Australia managed a great escape in the first Test against Pakistan in Dubai, batting out 139.5 overs – the most they have ever faced in Asia – to salvage a draw.

The captain now believes his team has drawn confidence from that effort and can win their first Test series in Asia since 2011.

“You never know … you may have the greatest plans in the world but unless you get out in the middle under that sort of pressure, you never know. So for guys to actually go out and do it – we will take a lot of confidence out of that.”

A big reason behind Australia managing to escape from the jaws of the Pakistani bowlers was the opening partnership between Khawaja and Aaron Finch. The duo added 142 runs in the first innings and 87 in the second to give Australia good starts.

“It’s great for a team to have a strong opening partnership,” Paine said. “In the last few years, we have had a number of them. So we’d like to get to a stage where we are settling it down.

“They certainly started really well. They had a really good rapport and looked relaxed in the middle and know each other very well. So it’s a really good start and hopefully it continues well.”

A drawn first Test means that Australia are still in with a chance of winning their first Test series in Asia since 2011, when they beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in a three-match series.

Paine said this Australian team is perfectly capable of doing so by playing “their best cricket”. “Yeah, it (winning a series in Asia) will be a massive thing for any Australian team and for this one in particular,” he said.

“We touched on it at the start of last week – not many people gave us a chance over here which a great opportunity to prove people wrong. It’s a great thing to keep driving us. We are trying to get better every day and if we manage to play our best next week, then maybe that’s possible.”

Related tags:

AustraliaPakistan Mitchell StarcTim PaineInternational Crickettest