ABU DHABI: Misbah-ul-Haq took over legends Imran Khan and Javed Miandad as Pakistan's most successful Test captain on Thursday after his men outclassed the Kiwis by 248 runs in the first game of a three-match Test series being played at the Zayed International Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Under Misbah's captaincy, this is Pakistan's 15th Test win whereas both Imran Khan and Javed Miandad had led the country to 14 Test wins each.

The victory comes as Pakistan produced a ruthless performance by setting a mammoth 566/3 in the first innings and dismissed the New Zealand batting lineup at 262, taking a massive lead of 304 runs.

Once again Misbah chose not to enforce the follow-on and the greenshirts continued their excellent batting form to declare its second innings at 175/2, leaving the Kiwis to chase a daunting target of 480.

Days after a 2-0 emphatic win over Australia, captain Misbah-ul-Haq had hoped for the team to carry on with the winning momentum.

The win against Aussies not only motivated the whole team but proved out to be a confidence-booster for players not in good form. Taking advantage of the situation, Mohammad Hafeez — popularly known as 'professor' — regained his form and smashed a beautifully played knock of 96 in the first and an unbeaten 101 in the second innings.

Hafeez coming back in his top form is most fortunate for Pakistan as questions were being raised at inadequate team selection for consistently going on with an opener not performing well for quite a time.

With Hafeez back in form, it seems like preparations for the World Cup is going in the right direction. Though, Test cricket is certainly not a criteria for it — but the form surely is.

Kiwis fought for survival

While opener Tom Latham scored his maiden test century in the first innings, New Zealand failed to adjust to the slow wickets in the United Arab Emirates.

Though, McCullum and Latham gave New Zealand a confident start before Babar had the first innings centurion top-edging a sweep to Shah. Four runs later Shah trapped McCullum and then had Ross Taylor out in the same fashion, leaving New Zealand reeling.

Anderson and Williamson added a crucial partnership for the fourth wicket but calamity struck as three wickets fell in the space of just five balls. Hafeez had Williamson stumped while Rahat dismissed Jimmy Neesham and BJ Watling off successive deliveries.

Rahat's pace partner Imran Khan then had Anderson leg-before as the batsman offered no stroke to a straight delivery while Babar cleaned up Tim Southee. The tail put up a good fight, with Sodhi scoring a brilliant half-century and establishing a 54-run stand for the 10th wicket to delay Pakistan's victory.

Kiwi's 22-year-old IS Sodhi said valuable lessons had been taken from the game. “Completely foreign conditions for us,” he said.

“The Pakistanis played really well. They didn't lose wickets to our seam bowlers who are world class swing bowlers. I think they did really well to get through those phases.

“With the bat, I guess we didn't apply ourselves for long enough and that is a lesson we have to take into the next two Tests.”

Pakistan have dominated the game from the toss and their victory is their fourth successive Test win on grounds in the UAE this year.

The second Test starts in Dubai on Nov 17.

Misbah lauds young team

Speaking to the media at the post-match press conference Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq said, “It's a young team, nobody expected us to perform like this.”

“Sometimes you have to be patient. It was an absolute disaster for me, I didn't get any runs in Sri Lanka and in the one-day series against Australia, but I kept calm through that.

“I thank God and I’m as happy as one could be. Whenever you win a match or series, that feeling you get is amazing. You always try to exhaust the opposing team mentally and physically.

“It is a very happy occasion for me. When I became the captain, it was a do or die sort of a situation for me. The way the team and the players responded, any praise would fall short. All the youngsters have really proven themselves and deserve a lot of praise.”