ABU DHABI: Paceman Hasan Ali and leg-spinner Yasir Shah took five wickets apiece to set Pakistan on the victory path on the third day of the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Hasan took his maiden five-wicket haul with 5-45 while Yasir finished with 5-110 — his 14th five-wicket feat in an innings — as New Zealand collapsed from 220-4 to 249 all out soon after tea at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

That left Pakistan with 176 to win the Test and at stumps they were 37-0 with Imam-ul-Haq on 25 not out and Mohammad Hafeez unbeaten on eight, while needing another 139 to win with all 10 wickets in hand and two days still to play.

With the pitch not worrisome for batting Pakistan have high hopes of enforcing a 1-0 lead in the three-match series while New Zealand can take heart from the fact that Pakistan lost a Test here against Sri Lanka by 21 runs after chasing 136 only last year.

Bradley-John Watling with 59 and Henry Nicholls with 55 had defied Pakistan in the post lunch session with a fighting stand of 112 for the fifth wicket but Yasir took four wickets off just 15 balls to bring his team back into contention.

Pakistan took the second new ball with the total at 201-4 soon after tea and Yasir had Nicholls caught beautifully by wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed and then in his next over trapped all-rounder Colin de Grandhomme leg-before for three.

Nicholls hit three boundaries in his 171-ball resistance-packed knock.

An over later, Yasir ended wicket-keeper/batsman Watling’s 145-ball defiance with a leg-before and then bowled Neil Wagner for a duck. Watling had five boundaries in his knock.

Hasan then wrapped up the New Zealand innings swiftly by bowling Ish Sodhi for 18 and Trent Boult caught by Hafeez in the covers off a miscued drive for nought to improve on his previous best figures of 4-51 against England at Lord’s in May this year.

New Zealand were in danger of losing the Test on Sunday itself after three quick wickets fell in the space of just 22 runs in the first session with Hasan taking two in the same over.

But Watling survived a leg-before decision on review after Australian umpire Bruce Oxenford raised his finger off Bilal Asif for 15. Watling took full advantage of the reprieve and added 67 in the second session without losing a wicket.

It was Hasan who brought Pakistan back in the first session.

Hasan, who had dismissed opener Tom Latham on Saturday, trapped a dangerous looking Taylor leg-before with a sharp incoming delivery for 19 and then had Jeet Raval caught behind by Sarfraz for 46.

Raval had added 86 for the second wicket with Kane Williamson who made 37.

Raval hit five boundaries in his 120-ball knock.

Resuming at 56-1 New Zealand had pinned hopes on their skipper Williamson.

But it was Raval who smashed two boundaries and then took a single off Mohammad Abbas to take New Zealand into the lead.

But just 12 runs into the lead Williamson was bowled by Yasir to a ball that beat the batsman’s push and removed the bail.

Scoreboard

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings) 153 (K.S. Williamson 63, H.M. Nicholls 28; Yasir Shah 3-54).

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 227 (Babar Azam 62, Asad Shafiq 43; T.A. Boult 4-54).

NEW ZEALAND (2nd Innings, overnight 56-1):

J.A. Raval c Sarfraz b Hasan 46
T.W.M. Latham b Hasan 0
K.S. Williamson b Yasir 37
L.R.P.L. Taylor lbw b Hasan 19
H.M. Nicholls c Sarfraz b Yasir 55
B.J. Watling lbw b Yasir 59
C. de Grandhomme lbw b Yasir 3
I.S. Sodhi b Hasan 18
N. Wagner b Yasir 0
Ajaz Patel not out 6
T.A. Boult c Hafeez b Hasan 0

EXTRAS (B-4, W-1, NB-1) 6

TOTAL (all out, 100.4 overs) 249

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-86, 3-105, 4-108, 5-220, 6-224, 7-227, 8-227, 9-249.

BOWLING: Mohammad Abbas 22-10-31-0; Hasan Ali 17.4-3-45-5 (1nb, 1w); Yasir Shah 37-6-110-5; Haris Sohail 7-1-12-0; Bilal Asif 14-3-43-0; Mohammad Hafeez 3-1-4-0.

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings):

Imam-ul-Haq not out 25
Mohammad Hafeez not out 8

EXTRAS (B-4) 4

TOTAL (for no wkt, 8 overs) 37

BOWLING (to-date): Boult 3-0-16-0; de Grandhomme 3-0-15-0; Patel 1-1-0-0; Sodhi 1-0-2-0.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2018