Published: Nov 12, 2014, 04:15 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 12, 2014, 05:11 PM (IST)
By Indrajit Dutta
Nov 12, 2014
New Zealand were 69 for three against Pakistan at the end of the first session on Day 4 of the opening Test at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Pakistan have set New Zealand a mammoth target of 480.
Kane Williamson is at the crease . He’s yet to open his account. Corey Anderson will join him after the tea break. Ross Taylor fell at the stroke of tea. He was out leg-before to Yasir Shah for 8. Before that Brendon McCullum was leg-before wicket for 39 off the bowling of Yasir Shah. He was rooted to his crease to a delivery that stayed low and plumb. Tom Latham was out to Zulfiqar Babar after was caught by Yasir Shah when he top edged as he was sweeping.
New Zealand started their second innings in an attacking manner. McCullum was aggressive as his wont while Latham was watchful. It was Rahat Ali who started off things for Pakistan after the innings break.
McCullum hit Rahat Ali for a couple of boundaries in the 3rd over. The first boundary was off a ball on the leg-side which the Kiwi captain flicked for four. A few balls later Ali pitched the ball wide outside the off-stump and was hit by McCullum for four.
An over later it was Latham’s turn to strike two fours off the same bowler. The centurion in the first innings straight drove an overpitched ball for four and then the very next ball he flicked for another boundary.
Spin was introduced in the form of Zulfiqar Babar. He struck McCullum on the pads a few times but there were stifled appeals only from the Pakistanis who realised he was not out.
Earlier on in the session Pakistan declared their second innings at 175 for two with a lead of 479 in on Day 4 of the opening Test at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Mohammad Hafeez top-scored with 100 not out. He had good support from Younis Khan who made 28 . Before that he shared a 69-run opening stand with Azhar Ali. This is the fifth consecutive time Pakistan have declared the innings. England hold the record after doing this on six occasions.
After lunch Hafeez and Younis came out in a very aggressive frame of mind as the declaration was imminent. Younis Khan was leg-before to Ish Sodhi shortly after lunch. He missed a sweep and and was adjudged leg-before as the ball was hitting the off-stump. Sodhi was the best Kiwi bowler after having claimed both the wickets.
Hafeez started with a bang in the second session with two fours in the first over. He soon brought up his sixth Test hundred and thereafter Pakistan declared. This was a very fluent knock by Hafeez He stroked the ball beautifully. To add to this he had been very positive, whenever the bad ball came his way he put it away. Hafeez would be looking to convert this into a hundred. In the first innings he fell four short of well-deserved ton.
The all-rounder employed the drive and the cut a fair bit. It also points to the fact that he was given room at times. One particular shot of his was a beautiful cover drive of Boult. Hafeez was often given room throughout his innings. Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi were particularly guilty of this
Left-arm seamer Boult started off proceedings for the New Zealanders on Day 4. He bowled a consistent line and length although he occasionally gave some width outside the off-stump which Hafeez cashed in on.
Tim Southee was often seen mixing it up. More often than not he bowled outside the off-stump with a few bouncers thrown in. Early on in the morning session almost every over had one bouncer from Southee. One particular bouncer was a steep one that beat the batsman Mohammad Hafeez and the wicketkeeper BJ Watling and crashed into the boundary boards. Southee, however, was guilty of drifting down the leg-side every now and then. He’s done this throughout the Test match.
The leg-spinner Sodhi seemed a little off-colour although he did pick up the wicket of Azhar Ali who missed a straight ball while he was trying to sweep. He, however, did not start well. His first ball was a loose one which Hafeez cover drovefor four. His third one was a full toss. The leg-spinner in fact continued to bowl the occasional bad ball was promptly put away by the batsmen.
New Zealand who have a mountain to climb did try their best to contain the Pakistani line-up. For them though they have to find a way to save this Test match. They’ll need to show a lot of determination to do so.
Pakistan 566 for 3 decl. (Ahmed Shehzad 176, Younis Khan 100*; Corey Anderson 2 for 68) & 175 for 2 decl. (Mohammad Hafeez 100*, Azhar Ali 23; Ish Sodhi 2 for 66) lead New Zealand 262 (Tom Latham 103, Corey Anderson 48; Rahat Ali 4 for 22)& 69 for 3 (Brendon McCullum39; Yasir Shah 2 for 15) by 411 runs.
Catch live blog of the match here
Catch live scorecard of Pakistan vs New Zealand 1st Test here
(Indrajit Dutta is a reporter with CricketCountry. He is also a published poet and author. His Twitter handle is @duttaindro)
