Lefty Shakeel batted all day to go undefeated on 124 of 336 pitches in an eight-hour innings before New Zealand spinners struck back in the second half.
Pakistan rode Saud Shakeel patient First Century his Test and Sarfaraz his Ahmed aggressive 78 in his third day of his second Test on Wednesday, taking New Zealand to his 42. I chased with a run difference.
The left-handed Shakeel batted all day to go unbeaten on 124 of 336 balls in his over eight-hour innings, with New Zealand spinners battling back in the second half with his four wickets, Pakistan hitting him at the stumps. finished the day at 407-9.
“When I was in my 90s, I was nervous in one or two overs, but Sarfaraz told me not to try,” said Sarfaraz, who made his first Test 100 in his hometown, hitting 17 of his fours. Afterwards Shakeel said. “Sarfaraz is a very experienced player and I started my career with him. It was good that he was with me when I scored my century.”
New Zealand part-time seamer Daryl Mitchell squeezed out Pakistan in the final session which saw the host score 70 runs as leftarm spinner Ajaz Patel (3-88) chipped away with wickets of Agha Salman (41) and Hasan Ali (4) through juggling catches by Michael Bracewell and Devon Conway.
Legspinner Ish Sodhi (2-94), who is recalled for the Pakistan test tour after four years, had Naseem Shah and Mir Hamza clean bowled off successive deliveries, but Abrar Ahmed avoided the hat-trick ball with an umbrella of fielders surrounding him and was yet to get off the mark.
New Zealand could have exposed Pakistan’s long tail early after tea still leading by 100 runs, but Tom Latham dropped a regulation catch of Shakeel’s lose drive at short point much to the disappointment of skipper Tim Southee (1-62).
Earlier, Shakeel and Sarfaraz kept New Zealand at bay with their determined 150-run stand in three hours after Pakistan lost the sole wicket of Imam-ul-Haq in a quiet first session which also produced 70 runs.
Mitchell came close to dismissing Sarfaraz off his first ball late in the second session, but the batter successfully overturned umpire Alex Wharf’s lbw ruling through television referral. But two balls later, he was stumped after Tom Blundell collected the ball into the side of his foot.
Television referee Ahsan Raza felt that the Surfers’ heels were not grounded in the crease as Blundell whipped his bail out after numerous replays. Sarfaraz reached the 10 limit and faced 109 balls in last week’s comeback test game as he continued to dominate New Zealand bowlers after scoring 2.5 centuries in almost four years.
“We got a little lucky with the timing,” Blundell said. “At first I didn’t think it was there, but seeing it on the big screen clearly has an opportunity. So for me it was a matter of getting the hanger off as soon as possible, but luckily for me it was perfect timing.
Shakeel and Sarfaraz looked solid against the spinner with his shot sweeping and after lunch he took his second fresh ball before Mitchell hit late in his second session. Even later, New Zealand failed to break through the defense.
Shakeel, who took him nearly an hour to score his first run on his 42nd pitch on the second day, showed plenty of patience, but after lunch he was halfway through without using 173 pitches. Accelerated at the end of the century.
He reached 99 on a sweep boundary against off-spinner Bracewell, then ran a quick single to mid-off to add to a memorable first 100 balls of 240 balls on a 14 boundary.
Shakeel got off to a great start in his cricket test last month, making his 4.5 century in Pakistan’s 3-0 home defeat to England. He scored a half-century in last week’s first-drawn Test against New Zealand, finally scoring his first 100.
New Zealand calmed Pakistan in the first session, allowing only 70 runs as Imam missed another opportunity to score a century.
Imam hit 83 runs after his 96 in the opening test before being held back after Southey managed to overturn a pending decision by referee Worf on the field via a televised transfer. rice field. Imam, who hit 10 4’s and 6’s, thumped for 4 hours but tried to play away from his body.
Shakeel survived his lbw exit in the final over before lunch with Matt Henry (1-58) and climbed to a gritty 43 by lunch. Because the Sarfaraz’ solid sweep against Spinner was also poised for another big hit before New Zealand’s run dried up. We ran through the last session and the tail render.