The unpredictable Pakistani side continues to show the world their batting skills as they take on New Zealand in a three match test series, in their second home –the UAE. The first test match started on the 9th of November at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Pakistan’s playing eleven was the same as that in the series earlier against Australia. With Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson fit to play, New Zealand also selected a very talented team to play against a buoyant and in-form Pakistan.
Pakistan vs New Zealand 1st Test Teams:
Pakistan (Playing XI): Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq(c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan
New Zealand (Playing XI): Brendon McCullum(c), Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, James Neesham, BJ Watling(w), Mark Craig, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Ish Sodhi
The match started at 10:00 am local time. Pakistan captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, won the toss and chose to bat first; keeping the batsmen-friendly pitches of UAE in mind. Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad opened the batting for Pakistan. Among all the opening batsmen, it was only Hafeez who had struggled to score during the historic win of the home side in test series against Michael Clark’s men, but in this match Hafeez, a.k.a. The Professor, batted with much more confidence. Along with Ahmed Shehzad, who was one to score century against the Aussies, Hafeez gave a very stable start to the Pakistani batting.
In the 1st innings, the Kiwi bowlers managed to take only three wickets. Mohammad Hafeez scored 96 but, on the brink of a century, was caught and bowled by Corey Anderson. Both Younis Khan and captain cool, Misbah-ul-Haq, yet again scored centuries. However, the outstanding performance was by Ahmad Shehzad who scored 176 but, unfortunately,was given out when his bat hit the stumps, having been hit in the face by a bouncer. Pakistan declared on 566-3. The wicket takers from New Zealand were Corey Anderson, who took two wickets and Ish Sodhi, who bowled out Azhar Ali with a brilliant legspin delivery.
When the Kiwis came to bat, they looked pretty stable and batted well in the beginning. But soon, wickets started falling and the upper order collapsed; the middle order did provide some resistance but it wasn’t good enough. The tailenders also tried their best, but all they could manage was 262 runs on the board once all ten wickets had been taken. Tom Latham was the kiwi centurion. He scored 103 runs and was dismissed LBW by Rahat Ali.
Pakistan’s wicket takers were Rahat Ali, who took four wickets, Zufiqar Babar took three, whilst Hafeez and Yasir Shah took one wicket each. Instead of enforcing the “follow-on” on New Zealand, Misbah-ul-haq decided to bat again in the third innings of the match. Pakistan declared the third innings of the match when they reached a total of 175 runs for 2 wickets, both of which were taken by Ish Sodhi. Hafeez scored 101 runs and remained not out. Hence, Pakistan gave New Zealand a target of 480 runs to win the match.
In response to that, the Kiwi batsmen could not score runs, neither could they stay at the pitch for a bit longer and were bowled out for 231 runs. The only player to cross the half-century mark was Ish Sodhi, who scored 63 runs, while other batsmen could not get runs on board. Pakistan won this match by 248 runs, making it their third consecutive test match win.
Despite the fact that Pakistani bowling has always been outstanding, this team has a very strong batting department too. Only fielding needs to be checked and worked on more. The preparation for the 2015 World Cup is going according to plan, but the main concern for the Pakistan team, as well as the cricket board are the injuries and many world-class bowlers getting banned by ICC for illegal bowling actions. If the authorities work on these issues, then the Pakistan side will be one of the favourites in the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. As for the Kiwis, they need to focus more, play with more determination and try to keep Pakistan under pressure, because pressure changes the game in cricket. Ahmed Shahzad, of Pakistan, has been ruled out of the remainder of the test series against New Zealand due to a minor skull fracture.
The second test of this series will start on the 17th of November 2014, at 10am local time. The match will be played in Dubai at Dubai Sports City Cricket Stadium.
RAHAT ALI (Pakistan) was given the “Man Of The Match” award.
MOHAMMAD HAFEEZ (Pakistan) got the “Master blaster” award for hitting the most number of boundaries in the match.
AHMED SHEHZAD (Pakistan) was declared “Best Batsman Of the Match”
MISBAH-UL-HAQ (Pakistan) got the award for “Most colourful innings” of the match.
TOM LATHAM (New Zealand) got the award for “Outstanding innings” of the match.
Thank you for reading. Follow me on twitter @FareehaMashhadi. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LWOSWorld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
Are you interested in writing about Cricket? LWOS is looking for passionate Cricket fans to get their views heard by thousands. Have a look at our WriteForUs page for more information.
