Pakistan is currently playing the first Test against New Zealand at National Stadium, Karachi. Day four of the match started with New Zealand batting and we saw a stellar performance by the guests. Kane Williamson remained the standout performer of the day by scoring 200*. Ish Sodhi who had a partnership with Williamson in the middle, completed his half century before getting out. New Zealand declared their batting after scoring 612/9.
While the pacers of Pakistan didn’t manage to shine with only Mohammad Wasim Jr getting one wicket at the expense of giving away 105 runs, the spinners in the squad grabbed the most wickets with newbie Abrar Ahmed getting a 5 wicket haul and Nauman Ali taking 3 wickets. The main fast bowlers of the Pakistan team, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Harris Rauf are not playing in this Test series and their absence was felt not only by the fans but squad as well. The Pakistani fielding however was average at best.
New Zealand left a trail of 174 runs for Pakistan upon declaring. The New Zealand squad which seems to be in overall better form than the Pakistan side, have already managed to take two wickets cheaply, opener Abdullah Shafique (17 runs) and Shan Masood (10 runs). At the end of the day, Pakistan has managed to score 77/2 with Imam ul Haque and Nauman Ali batting.
With tomorrow being the final day of the first Test, it will be interesting to see how the match wraps up.