He took the attack to Australia to start with, but when Nathan Lyon struck four times in six balls, he realised he had to rein in his natural instincts to succeed. “I changed [my method] because of the situation,” Zaman said. “Before the game I was just looking to play my natural game, but after that situation, 57/5, after that I was just looking to take the time because we weren’t in a good position to play naturally.”

He received able support from his captain Sarfraz Ahmed. Uniquely in Test cricket, both made 94, but Zaman credited his skipper’s knock as the more fluent of the two innings. “Sarfraz plays spin really well always, but I was not feeling comfortable. That’s why I was just blocking the ball and taking my time.”

Their partnership was a classic case of surviving and then counter-attacking as conditions eased. By the close of play, Zaman said that he and his side, who struck twice late in the day to leave Australia 20/2, were “feeling good”.

“After those wickets we were just talking about taking our time. There was a bit of moisture in the wicket, so we were just looking to take the time because after lunch we were thinking the wicket would get better, so then we scored a lot of runs. My partnership with Sarfraz was really good, he played really well, so now we’re feeling good.”