Khawaja knock 'one of the great Test innings', says Paine

Australia captain Tim Paine hailed Usman Khawaja's painstaking rearguard effort as "one of the great Test innings" after his team clung on for an unlikely draw against Pakistan on Thursday in the series opener in Dubai.

Opener Khawaja batted for eight hours and 44 minutes to help foil Pakistan's victory bid, while Travis Head (72) and Paine, who finished unbeaten on 61, played key supporting roles to take Australia to 362-8 and save the match.

Paine and number ten batsman Nathan Lyon (five not out) batted out the final 12.1 overs to snatch a draw, as Australia ended 100 short of a daunting 462-run target set by Pakistan.

"I am just really proud of the whole group, how they stuck to our plans and kept digging in. I am really proud of Usman, too, on one of the great Test innings," said Paine.

"No, it doesn't feel like a win. We were outplayed. Proud to get something out of it, but we can play a lot better in the next Test," said Paine, with the second and final Test starting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

Khawaja, whose best score was 26 in five previous Tests in Asia, admitted it was one of the best innings of his career.

"I normally never sweat through my shirt, but my shirt was drenched and my pants were drenched. That took it out of me a fair bit. I've never had an innings like that," he said.

"To bat that long a period in Asia - it is a bit different. It shows a lot of guts and courage to do something like that," added Khawaja, whose 524-minute knock was the second longest in a fourth innings in Test history.

- 'Worked my backside off' -
"I work as hard as anyone. I have worked my backside off for the past 10 years, day in, day out."