NEW Zealand having taken control of this decisive Test from the second day onwards never let the grip slide away from them to inflict in the end a heavy innings and 80 runs defeat on Pakistan and level the three-match Test series.

That they achieved this with a day to spare makes it even a lot more satisfying for them, for they came from behind having lost the first Test to tame a rather spirited Pakistan which for many were the favourites to walk away with yet another home series.

Brendon McCullum’s men have no doubt showed tremendous resilience to progress and improve as the series headed towards the final stages particularly after the second Test was drawn well in favour of his team and New Zealand’s graph onwards kept on going upwards whereas Pakistan continued to go down and down.

The pattern of the present series was not any different from the one here early this year against Sri Lanka when Pakistan, trailing behind in the series, went all out in the last two sessions of the last day to chase a record target of 302 and level the series.

There was no run chase here for the Black Caps who, once got the hang of it that they can make it work for them if they kept pressure on after accumulating a massive 690, their highest score, may not have to bat again and that is exactly what happened when finally Pakistan was left to survive and save the Test.

There certainly was never anything else on the card for Misbah-ul-Haq’s team rather than trying to occupy the crease as long as possible and delay the inevitable after New Zealand led by 399 runs on the first innings. Not easy for any team really to play the game normally in such grave and grim situation.

All that razzmatazz of a dazzling batting display of the Kiwis apart in which McCullum led with a double century and Kane Willimason looked the part as much as did Ross Taylor, Tim Southee and Corey Anderson, their bowlers also excelled as much complementing their batsmen’s outstanding performance.

Pakistan, when batting for the second time, never really looked like surviving the day, as early wickets fell with Trent Boult bagging the first three. No stopping from then on really till Sarfraz Ahmed and Rahat Ali paired with ever solid looking Asad Shafiq who delighted us as much as the Kiwi batsmen to get past his fifth Test century in his own inimitable style hitting a six and a four when on 90 to reach the coveted figure.

Short, well balanced and sturdy, Asad was a delight to watch. No wonder then his dismissal was heartily greeted and applauded by McCullum’s men including Daniel Vetorri who may have played the last Test of his career.

All told, I suppose this has been an enjoyable series for both Pakistan and New Zealand. With their tails up both would obviously look forward to what will be in store for them in near future including the upcoming World Cup.

Misbah and his men, I must say have done us all proud to first make a clean sweep of the two-match Test series against Australia despite their ODI loss against them and then keep their form going till the end when fatigue set in and their mindset had a knockout effect once the tragedy of Phil Hughes’s tragic death filtered in and left them in a disturbed frame of mind.

This has been a useful outing for Pakistan and the credit no doubt goes to the whole team including Younis Khan and Misbah who set the tone of the series as did Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfraz Ahmed and in the end the icing on the cake was Asad.

Not forgetting of course the way Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah bowled throughout except when McCullum and company got hold of them on an unfriendly wicket for Pakistan bowlers.

Published in Dawn, December 1st , 2014