The drawn second Test ended with honours equally shared by Pakistan and New Zealand who competed at par to make it not only an exciting and enthralling game to watch but also to provide a strong reminder that the future of five-day games is still very bright.

On the final day, after a sporting declaration by Brendon McCullum, all three results were possible including a win for either side or in worst case a draw. But even a draw which was the final outcome was no less exciting the way the game progressed when New Zealand set Pakistan 261 runs to win in 72 overs.

In a fifty over game this really could have been a piece of cake for any batting line up with some depth. But no, not in Test cricket, a game in which the mood and the temperament is not suited to throw caution to the wind and spoil things after a few hard days of grind in the field.

Having said that, there have been cases when teams have adopted the slam bang style of limited overs game to chase the targets and achieve them, as we saw early this year at Sharjah against Sri Lanka when Pakistan snatched a rare victory by chasing over 300 runs in just over two sessions.

Pakistan then was trailing by a Test in the three match series and it was a do or die matter for them to level the series which they did no doubt with some incredible performances by Sarfraz Ahmed and Azhar Ali.

Surely, when presented with the challenge by McCullum and company on Friday, this may have crossed skipper Misbah-ul-Haq’s mind too to settle the fate of the series here rather than wait for the third and final Test. And there was a moment when one sensed this could have been a possibility. But once Younis Khan was out having shared a valuable stand with Asad Shafiq, we knew that instead of going for the target Pakistan would be well contented to see the day off without any heart aches.

Both myself and some 8,000 present in the crowd would have liked to see Sarfraz, the first innings century maker, promoted in the batting order to unsettle the Kiwis. It was a gamble worth a try but the Pakistan think tank stuck to the original batting order.

However, with victory not in sight Asad Shafiq pulled the shutters down in a sensible display with the bat to make sure that Pakistan go in the third and final Test with their tails up.

This match no doubt has given Pakistan some food for thought that even when in best of form, things can go wrong and the opposition may strike back at any juncture. Full marks to New Zealand too, who despite a setback in the first Test, stood up bravely; first by making a very respectable first innings score and then in the end setting Pakistan a challenging but gettable target.

I feel Ross Taylor’s century in the second innings on Friday was as much valuable for them as was Sarfraz’s innings to us in the first outing.

Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2014