diff --git a/addons/pager/jquery.tablesorter.pager.js b/addons/pager/jquery.tablesorter.pager.js
index a6bf165b..f225ef9c 100644
--- a/addons/pager/jquery.tablesorter.pager.js
+++ b/addons/pager/jquery.tablesorter.pager.js
@@ -139,8 +139,12 @@
 					})
 					// {totalPages}, {extra}, {extra:0} (array) or {extra : key} (object)
 					.replace(/\{\w+(\s*:\s*\w+)?\}/gi, function(m){
-						var t = m.replace(/[{}\s]/g,''), a = t.split(':'), d = p.ajaxData;
-						return a.length > 1 && d && d[a[0]] ? d[a[0]][a[1]] : p[t] || (d ? d[t] : '') || '';
+						var str = m.replace(/[{}\s]/g,''),
+							extra = str.split(':'),
+							data = p.ajaxData,
+							// return zero for default page/row numbers
+							deflt = /(rows?|pages?)$/i.test(str) ? 0 : '';
+						return extra.length > 1 && data && data[extra[0]] ? data[extra[0]][extra[1]] : p[str] || (data ? data[str] : deflt) || deflt;
 					});
 				if (out.length) {
 					out[ (out[0].tagName === 'INPUT') ? 'val' : 'html' ](s);