Babar Azam and Sarfaraz Ahmed rescue Pakistan on first day of Test against New Zealand

Pakistan's current and former captains combined to rescue their side from a top-order collapse against New Zealand on Monday as the hosts reached stumps at 317-5 on the opening day of the first Test.

Babar Azam, unbeaten on 161, and the recalled Sarfaraz Ahmed (86) guided Pakistan to a position of strength after New Zealand made early inroads at 110-4.

New Zealand spinners had taken three early wickets on a spin-assisting National Stadium pitch and one before lunch but had to wait until the closing moments when Ajaz Patel got Sarfaraz caught in the slip.

At close, Babar and Agha Salman (3) were at the crease as Pakistan look to bounce back from last week's 3-0 series loss to England, their first ever whitewash at home.

Babar now has 1,170 runs in nine Tests this year — the highest run scorer in Tests in 2022. He also beat Mohammad Yousuf's 2006 aggregate of 2,435 in all three formats, taking 2,584 runs across the board this year.

Sarfaraz, playing his first Test since January 2019, cracked nine boundaries in his 256-minute knock.

“I finally got an opportunity and I hope today’s knock will help the team,” Sarfaraz said. “Of course it was disappointing not to get a century in my hometown, but the partnership with Babar was more important to me.”

New Zealand will be ruing letting Babar off the hook when he was on 12 after Daryl Mitchell spilled a regulation catch at slip off Bracewell. The tourists also failed to run out Babar on 54 when Devon Conway missed the stumps with the Pakistan skipper well short of his crease.

“Babar made the most of his chance and batted really well,” Patel said. “He continued to put pressure on us when we were starting building momentum … and he soaked it up. Obviously no one wants to drop