New Zealand continued to dominate Pakistan, with Kane Williamson and Ishu Sodhi running furiously throughout the morning session on day four in Karachi.
Only 79 runs were added in the session, but New Zealand were able to make steady progress and gain a healthy lead.
Both Soddy and Williamson were generally comfortable on pitches that offered only slow turns as rough spots were still far from the stumps. Naumann-Ali rolled around and tried to strike those spots to arouse suspicion, but did little to deter the duo, who could comfortably handle the run.
Ali beat Williamson to 116 on the pads and was about to pick a wicket when he passed the referee on the field. However, upon checking, I discovered that the ball had hit the outside of my foot stump. Pakistan’s luck in the review was still poor as it happened shortly after being wasted against Sodi. Mohammad Wasim Jr put the old ball back in and full he hit Sodhi with the ball but replays confirmed that his edge on the inside wasn’t worth checking.
Not getting enough bites with the old ball, Pakistan took advantage of his third new ball when it became available. However, although the ball was hit quickly, the New Zealand hitter was less concerned. But it offered more opportunities. Sodhi smashed through his chains in an empty slip twice, once in the mill He scored a feather minutes before his lunch break with Hamza, but none of the players on the field picked it up. An appeal never came, with Sodhi remaining undefeated with 41 and adding 83, while Williamson remained steadfast as on day three.
Brief scores: New Zealand 519/6 (Tom Latham 113, Kane Williamson 137*, Devon Conway 92; Abrar Ahmed 3-143) lead Pakistan 438 (Babar Azam 161, Agha Salman 103; Tim Southee 3-69) by 81 runs