KARACHI: Babar Azam was in his element. The Pakistan captain was dancing down the track as well as rocking on his back foot with grace, oozing class at the National Stadium on Tuesday. It was then disaster struck: confusion, mayhem and Imam-ul-Haq showing his perennial struggles with running between the wickets. Amid all that, and Babar trying to complete a quick third, Henry Nicholls had kept his head. When his throw from midwicket reached Michael Bracewell at the bowlers’ end, both Babar and Imam were at the other end; the latter having returned to his crease having started off for that run.

Bracewell whipped the bails off, Babar could only stare at Imam.­ A few words were excha­nged, Imam probably trying to absolve himself of the blame by telling his skipper that he should’ve been watching the ball too. Responding to New Zealand’s first innings score of 449, Pakistan had been reduced to 99-3 and now their star batter was walking off, having shown the full repertoire of shots in his short 41-ball innings of 24. Just after tea, he’d gone down the track and lifted spinner Ajaz Patel for a six over his head. There was a late cut off his Kiwi counterpart Tim Southee for four.

The onus was now on Imam to redeem himself and dig Pakistan out from a hole in this second and deciding Test of the series. The left-handed opener, fresh from his 96 in the second innings of the first Test which ended in a draw, had lost his first two partners — Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood — to rash shots here.

Abdullah was the first to go, having hit four fours in his 19, when he pulled pacer Matt Henry’s rising delivery to Ajaz Patel at the mid-wicket boundary. Shan departed as he went for one boundary too many. In his 11-ball 20, Shan had punched Henry down the ground for four; a shot that went between Imam’s legs, and then hit Patel for three boundaries in the same over in which he found Devon Conway, New Zealand’s centurion on Monday, at point off the last ball.

After Babar’s run out and with the incoming Saud Shakeel struggling to get off the mark, Imam broke the shackles when he hit Bracewell on both sides of the ground off consecutive deliveries for his fifth and sixth boundaries before hitting the off-spinner for a six down the ground to raise his half-century. Newcomer Saud finally got his first runs off the 42nd delivery he faced with a punch through the offside.

Runs had dried up for Pakistan until Imam finally ended a boundary drought stretching over six overs when he took on Bracewell and got two boundaries in the space of three balls. He would then get an authoritative boundary through covers off Henry in the day’s penultimate over before Saud pulled away Southee to get the first four of his innings as Pakistan closed at 154-3, still 295 runs behind New Zealand. Imam will resume at 74 on the third day with Saud at 13 and Pakistan will hope there is more to come from them.

New Zealand certainly got a lot from their batters earlier on Tuesday as they added 140 runs to their total; the bulk of them — 104 — coming through a defiant last-wicket stand between Henry (66 not out) and Patel (35).

“It wasn’t good for us,” reflected Pakistan batting coach Mohammad Yousuf at the news conference at the end of the day’s play. “From our point of view, they got a 100 extra runs. It was a teasing stand for us but it wasn’t that they were going berserk. They played well. As far as our batting is concerned, we’re in a good place at the moment. If we manage to take the lead, we’ll be in a good position.”

IDEAL START

Pakistan began with purpose as they looked to wrap up the New Zealand tail and Naseem Shah provided the ideal start to the day, hitting the top of Ish Sodhi’s off-stump with the tourists having failed to add to their overnight score of 309-6. It took until halfway through the third over of the day for New Zealand to get their first run and then Southee’s edge off Mir Hamza flew through slip and gully for four.

Tom Blundell, carrying from his overnight score of 30, then drove Naseem through point for a boundary and then cut Abrar Ahmed for another four. An lbw decision on Southee was overturned on review and Blundell then got another four off Abrar as he neared his half-century. He didn’t last long though, and saw his stumps rattled by an Abrar delivery that stayed low for 51 off 108 with six fours.

Abrar and Pakistan were celebrating soon after as Sarfraz Ahmed whipped off the bails in a flash after Southee had strayed to the off-spinner. It, however, only paved the way for Pakistan’s frustration at the hands of New Zealand’s last stand. Henry made a statement of his intent when he hit Hasan Ali through the covers for four and followed it with another boundary over mid-on before pulling him for six. Boundaries were coming thick and fast and Naseem was driven through mid-on for four.

Lunch had been delayed by half an hour in the hope that Pakistan would get the final wicket but Patel and Henry had become immovable. Patel got on the act when hit Abrar for four and Henry continued his boundary-clearing exploits when a six off Naseem found the roof. He then swept Abrar for four and Patel drove Hamza for another.

It was then Babar turned to Agha Salman, whose off-spin had seen him pick three wickets after tea on the opening day, but Henry cut him for four in front of point to reach 49 and completed his half-century off 42 balls.

“The aim was to score runs and apply pressure by batting for as long as we could,” Henry told reporters at the post-day news conference. “It doesn’t happen often that we’re talking about my batting but I’m really happy that I could put the team in a strong position with my half century.”

Lunch was eventually taken and when New Zealand returned, Patel smacked Abrar over his head for four. Henry got two boundaries off Abrar in the next over but the spinner had the last laugh when he induced an edge off Patel that was taken by Salman at slip to finish as Pakistan’s most successful bowler with figures of 4-149.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND (1st Innings, overnight 309-6):

T. Latham lbw b Naseem 71

D. Conway c Sarfraz b Salman 122

K. Williamson c Sarfraz b Naseem 36

H. Nicholls c Sarfraz b Salman 26

D. Mitchell b Salman 3

T. Blundell b Abrar 51

M. Bracewell lbw b Abrar 0

I. Sodhi b Naseem 11

T. Southee st Sarfraz b Abrar 10

M. Henry not out 68

A. Patel c Salman b Abrar 35

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-5, NB-5, W-1) 16

TOTAL (all out, 131 overs) 449

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-134 (Latham), 2-234 (Conway), 3-240 (Williamson), 4-255 (Mitchell), 5-278 (Nicholls), 6-279 (Bracewell), 7-309 (Sodhi), 8-340 (Blundell), 9-345 (Southee)

BOWLING: Hamza 21-3-72-0 (2nb), Naseem 24-7-71-3, Hasan 23-4-72-0 (3nb, 1w), Abrar 37-5-149-4, Salman 26-3-75-3

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):

Abdullah Shafique c Patel b Henry 19

Imam-ul-Haq not out 74

Shan Masood c Conway b Patel 20

Babar Azam run out 24

Saud Shakeel not out 13

EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-2) 4

TOTAL (for three wickets, 47 overs) 154

STILL TO BAT: Sarfraz Ahmed, Agha Salman, Hasan Ali, Naseem Shah, Mir Hamza, Abrar Ahmed

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-27 (Abdullah), 2-56 (Shan), 3-99 (Babar)

BOWLING: Southee 10-3-33-0, Henry 12-3-35-1 (1nb), Patel 7-1-30-1, Bracewell 14-3-45-0, Sodhi 4-0-9-0 (1nb)

Published in Dawn, january 4th, 2023