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Kane Williamson scored his fifth double-hundred in Test cricket to help New Zealand take a 174-run lead before captain Tim Southee declared the innings at a mammoth score of 612/9 in the first Test on Day 4 at National Stadium in Karachi.
Pakistan’s frustrating time on the field ended when the Kiwis declared their first innings at 612/9 just after Williamson reached his double ton, courtesy of his 21st boundary in the innings.
Ajaz Patel was the last man to walk to bat for New Zealand after they lost their ninth wicket when Williamson was on 186. Williamson stepped out of the crease to hit a straight six over the head of Abrar Ahmed to enter into the 190s before eventually reaching his second double-hundred against Pakistan.
32-year-old Williamson, who remained unbeaten on 200 off 395 balls with 21 fours and a six, scored his first international score of over 100 in almost two years since he made 238 against Pakistan at Christchurch in January 2021.
What an innings! 🙌#PAKvNZ | #WTC23 | 📝 https://t.co/HdzZd88nK3 pic.twitter.com/rSv8sHBrsc
— ICC (@ICC) December 29, 2022
Williamson, who finished as New Zealand’s most successful Test captain by winning 22 of 40 matches in his captaincy, also made a new record after his double-ton.
He now has the most Test double-hundreds by a Kiwi batter, going past former captain Brendon McCullum who scored four. He has also equalled legends like Graeme Smith, Joe Root, Rahul Dravid, and Alastair Cook.
Among active cricketers, Williamson is only behind the former Indian captain Virat Kohli, who has seven double-centuries.
Williamson continued his exploits against Pakistan in Test cricket. The right-handed batter raced to his fifth Test ton against them (second consecutive double-century). His last ten scores against Pakistan in the format are 200*, 238, 21, 129, 139, 89, 30, 28*, 37, and 63.
Williamson is also the only New Zealand player with over 1,000 Test runs against Pakistan.
New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi came at the crease when his side were 436/6. Along with Williamson, the duo added a solid 159-run stand, which is now the third-highest for the seventh wicket for New Zealand in Tests.
Sodhi hit his career-best score of 65 off 180 balls while smashing 11 fours. He has surpassed his 500-run mark in the format for New Zealand (513) at an average of 23.32. It was also his second fifty versus Pakistan, averaging 29.37 against them.
Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed picked his second Test five-wicket haul before New Zealand declared their first inning. Abrar bowled as many as 67.5 overs and conceded 205 runs while taking eight maidens. His partner Nauman Ali took three wickets, while pacer Mohammad Wasim Jr finished with just one scalp.
Interestingly, Abrar’s 67.5 overs in the first innings is the second-highest number of overs bowled in an innings by a Pakistan bowler in the last 20 years. Zulfiqar Babar is the only Pakistani to have bowled more overs in a Test inning, with 72 overs against England in 2015.
Meanwhile, at stumps, Pakistan finished on 77/2 in 31 overs, still trailing by 97 runs with opener Imam-ul-Haq and night watchman Nauman Ali staying unbeaten on scores of 45 and 4 respectively.
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