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By Abdullah Ansari (28th November, 2016)

Toss: Pakistan won the toss, Azhar Ali opted to bowl first.

Teams

New Zealand: TWM Latham, JA Raval, KS Williamson (c), LPRL Taylor, HM Nicholls, C de Grandhomme, BJ Watling (wk), MJ Santner, TG Southee, MJ Henry, N Wagner.

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Imran Khan.

New Zealand's second innings began in a circumspect manner with the first four overs all maidens. Pakistan took a review for LBW in the 4th over but it proved to be a bad option with Latham getting a big inside edge. Amir struck in the eight over at last, getting rewarded for some tight bowling as Raval was trapped LBW with an inswinging delivery. Williamson began positively as usual as the batsmen formed a partnership. Yasir almost had Latham run out with a brilliant diving effort but he was JUST in his crease. Pakistan tightened up a bit in an effort to dry up the runs with Amir having another catch dropped off his bowling, a tough chance for Sami at mid-wicket. Latham hit Amir for three fours in the last over of the session, getting to a fifty as New Zealand went to the break at 97/1.

Imran struck in the 5th over after the interval as he got one to straighten just outside off, with Williamson edging it behind for 42. Wahab had Taylor trapped LBW on 16 but the batsman reviewed it, with the bowler having over-stepped as well as the ball missing the stumps. The hosts' lead soon went past 200. Wahab was the one to next make a breakthrough as he bowled a bouncer to Latham which he was in no position to play, top-edging it to Sarfraz after making a valuable 80. Wahab created another opportunity as he made Nicholls hook a bouncer - Sohail would have caught it at fine-leg had he not been a few yards inside the boundary. That was the last chance of the session, one in which Pakistan only bowled 24 overs.

New Zealand's lead soon went beyond 250 after Tea despite Nicholls struggling. Taylor got to his first 50+ score in over a year while Imran struck again to remove Nicholls. He bowled a very short and wide delivery which the batsman somehow managed to edge behind for 26. Colin de Grandhomme came out firing on all cylinders, going after the bowlers to inject some momentum into the New Zealand innings before he top edged one off Imran to be dismissed for 32 off 21 balls. Taylor then started playing his shots as Watling struggled at the other end. Pakistan resorted to bowling the part-timers as Sarfraz missed a stumping chance against Watling. Taylor continued to hit boundaries fairly regularly as he brought up his hundred off 132 balls just around 20 mins before the close as New Zealand declared at 313/5, setting Pakistan 369 runs to win. Pakistan's openers came out to bat for three overs, surviving without loss. They need 368 runs in the stipulated 98 overs on Day 5.

Summary: Pakistan face an uphill task on Day 5, to say the least. The highest 4th innings total chased in New Zealand is 348/5 by West Indies in 1969 - that record will need to be broken. The bowlers started off decently but simply could not make breakthroughs regularly as most of the batsmen got starts. They also felt the absence of a 5th bowler or a certain Yasir Shah as the pacers tired bowling long spells at a stretch. Sohail Khan was rendered ineffective as he struggled with his pace down while Mohammad Amir bowled a good first spell but couldn't extract any help out of the pitch thereafter. Imran Khan was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Tom Latham and Ross Taylor played excellent innings to put New Zealand in control.

Fall of wickets:

1-11 (Raval, 7.3 ov)
2-107 (Williamson, 37.2 ov)
3-159 (Latham, 50.4 ov)
4-219 (Nicholls, 67.5 ov)
5-254 (de Grandhomme, 71.6 ov)

Discuss!