New Zealand v Pakistan, 1st Test, Day 3 Review: New Zealand gains match-winning advantage

Pakistan was rocked by New Zealand’s swing bowling attack once again and was reduced to 129/7 at stumps on day three at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch. The visitors found it very difficult to counter the Kiwi attack and huffed and puffed to get past the 67 run deficit. After a debacle in the first innings, Pakistan looked cautious but was unable to get going and despite all their effort could not stop the Kiwis from talking wicket in a lump.

Pacemen Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali snapped seven wickets between them to bowl out New Zealand, who resumed batting at 104/3, for just 200 and bring some optimism in the team. Speaking generally, the pitch clearly made batting very difficult.

The morning began on a top note for Pakistan. Both the overnight batsman were removed inside the first four overs. It was Sohail Khan, who struck first with the wicket of Nicholls. Shortly, Mohammad Amir snapped the most important wicket. Jeet Raval, who top scored yesterday with 55, was not allowed to add even a single run to his tally and was caught behind by Sami Aslam in the slips area.

From here on there was a slump. Sohail and Ali quickly swung into action snapping Colin de Grandhomme and leg-spinner Todd Astle respectively in successive overs. Sohail struck first after when he removed De Grandhomme in the 49th over. The nonchalant right-hander mostly tried attacking the bowlers. This brought him runs without much hassle but eventually became the reason for his downfall.

A shorter one banged in by Sohail brought his dismissal after he mistimed hook shot could not get the distance and was pouched by Rahat Ali in the deep square leg region. It was huge wicket for them as apart from Raval, it was the De Grandhomme who looked a bit comfortable batting. Todd Astle’s lost his wicket to Rahat as his debut innings yielded him a duck.

Wicket-keeper BJ Watling (18) and Tim Southee hustled for a while and added some valuable runs. But a lower order collapse still was inevitable as Pakistan bowlers made a wrap-up and gave their team a slight advantage.

Unfortunately, their batsman failed to learn anything from the previous innings. Although they showed signs of improvement, most the batsmen were only able to hang in around rather than score runs. The Kiwi pacers have shown that they know better how to use the movement off the pitch and the result was once again visible.

After spending 18 overs, Pakistan managed just 21 runs before losing their first wicket. Sami Aslam’s resilience was put to an end by De Grandhomme as Pakistan suffered their first blow in their effort to wipe out the lead.

Azhar Ali (31) and Babar Azam (29) held things together for quite a long time. But runs were pretty hard to accumulate. Boult along with Wagner were accurate and teased the duo. There was a packed slip cordon. But, they managed to defy them. There was glimpse of leg spinner Todd Astle. But they hosts had to wait for good number of overs before they enjoyed further success which obviously came in bundles.

The pair added 37 runs for the 2n wicket before Wagner finally managed to force Azam nick one behind to Watling. Soon, he added another wicket in the form of Younis Khan.  Southee Joined the party and pocketed the dangerous Misbah and Boult made the opposition completely nervous when he broke through the defence of the well-set Ali and Sarfraz Ahmed.

By the time the stumps was called, Pakistan had somehow managed to gain 62 runs lead but the unfortunate part is that they have only 3 wickets in hand. The match is heavily in favor of the hosts and only a miraculous fightback from the tail enders and can see them compete in the last innings.

Brief Scores: 

Pakistan: 133 all out (Misbah ul Haq 31; Colin de Grandhomme 6/41) & 129/7 (Azhar Ali 31; Trent Boult 3/18)

New Zealand: 200 all out (Jeet Raval 55; Rahat Ali 4/62)