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Former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed continued his golden form since his comeback to hit a brilliant century to help Pakistan force out a draw against New Zealand on Day 5 in the thrilling second and final Test, in Karachi on Friday.
However, Pakistan’s winless home streak continued and extended to eight matches with the latest result of a draw as the two-match Test series concluded 0-0 in a draw.
Interestingly, this was the second time in their Test history that Pakistan drew a Test match with just one wicket remaining.
Their last victory on home soil came against South Africa in Rawalpindi in February 2021.
At the end of day’s play, Pakistan were 304-9 and needed just 15 runs to win the second Test when the play was called off due to bad light.
With light fading in Karachi on day five, all four results were still on the cards.
Pakistan wicket-keeper batter Sarfaraz who replaced Mohammad Rizwan in the Test series made his first Test century in nine years by scoring 118 off 176 deliveries, scoring nine fours and one six and kept Pakistan in the hunt after New Zealand had them at 0/2 at stumps on day four.
The Test series trophy is shared 🇵🇰🏆🇳🇿#PAKvNZ | #TayyariKiwiHai pic.twitter.com/Y0KWBv1tN0
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) January 6, 2023
At 80/5, New Zealand seemed to be on course to win a Test series in Pakistan for the first time in more than 50 years but Sarfaraz and Saud Shakeel (32 off 146) came together to restructure Pakistan’s innings with a century stand.
When that stand was broken after tea, New Zealand yet again moved ahead in the game but Agha Salman (30 off 40) hung around with Sarfaraz to push the game into the final hour.
But the Kiwis kept pushing and clawed back into the contest with three wickets in the space of five overs late in the day, including that of Sarfaraz.
When Sarfaraz got out, 40 balls were left in the day but Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed held on and Naseem even smashed a six and a four in an over when the field was taken up before the match was called off by the umpires due to poor light.
With this, thrillers in Pakistan have continued with some bold declarations made recently.
There’s been no shortage of drama in the Test matches in the country. Last month, a bold declaration from England captain Ben Stokes opened up the Rawalpindi Test that England won by 74 runs to start their series on a winning note.
Babar Azam also gave a shock by declaring their second innings in the last Test against New Zealand, with about 15 overs left in the day and New Zealand needing 138 runs.
As expected, the New Zealand batters came out all guns blazing and reached 61/1 in 7.3 overs before bad light called off play.
In 2023, Tim Southee became the third captain to make a brave declaration call in the country.
Declaring at 277/5, Southee set Pakistan a target of 319 with more than a day left in the Test as we once again witnessed a dramatic Test match that could have gone either way.
Despite all this drama, the match ended in a draw with Pakistan needing just 15 runs to win the match at a total of 304/9 while New Zealand needed just one wicket to win the second Test and the series.
The stand-out performer for Pakistan and their biggest positive out of the Test series would definitely be Sarfaraz who made a dream comeback into the Test side.
In the first innings, he scored 78 off 109 balls with ten fours at a strike rate of 71.55.
He continued his form in the second innings and scored a match-saving brilliant 118 off 176 deliveries that helped Pakistan to play out a draw.
Sarfaraz Ahmed was awarded Player of the Match as well as Player of the Series for his brilliant 78 & 118 in the second Test and 335 runs in the series respectively.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 449 (Devon Conway 122, Tom Latham 71, Matt Henry 68, Tom Blundell 51) & 277/5 (Michael Bracewell 74 not out, Tom Blundell 74. Tom Latham 62) drew with Pakistan 408 all out (Saud Shakeel 125, Sarfaraz Ahmed 78, Imam ul Haq 83) & 304/9 (Sarfaraz Ahmed 117; Micheal Bracewell 4-75).
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