PAK vs NZ, 1st Test, Day 3:  New Zealand 440 for 6 (Latham 113, Williamson 105*, Conway 92 , Abrar 4-143) lead Pakistan 438 (Babar 161, Salman 103*, Sarfaraz 86, Southee 3-69) by 2 runs

During the majority of day three in Karachi, New Zealand’s batters, led by Kane Williamson, made Pakistan work hard. The hosts, on the other hand, came back in the final 30 minutes to win the day.

New Zealand started the day on 165 for 0 and ended the day on 440 for 6, two runs ahead of Pakistan’s score in the first innings. With two days remaining and a challenging surface to contend with, the game is in a tantalizing position with Pakistan having the momentum at stumps.

On 105, Williamson ended the day unbeaten.

Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell were with him, and while neither of them made it past the half-century mark, their aggressive play allowed Williamson to steadily increase his score. In the first part of the day, Tom Latham added to his short-term score of 78 to post his thirteenth Test century.

After walking in at number one, Mitchell scored 42 runs in 47 attempts. 5 midway through the session. Before moving on to playing more conventional shots in the V, he started scoring boundaries with the reverse sweep. Nauman Ali got six and four boundaries down the ground, and Mohammad Wasim got four boundaries in four deliveries.

On the other hand, Blundell’s presence at the crease was much less certain. He was fortunate to be bowled by Pakistan spinners Nauman and Abrar Ahmed, who bowled together for long stretches throughout the day. The New Zealand No. After tea, 6 became the aggressor, focusing most of his boundaries on his leg and side. His battle with Nauman was fascinating because the left-arm spinner got the ball to turn across him, which led to a plethora of leading edges and sliced shots that went to the offside instead. On number 41, for instance, two fielders tried to take a catch, but neither of them agreed to it. In the end, Pakistan did not suffer too much from the missed Blundell chance because the wicketkeeper-batsman was caught behind for 47 by Wasim’s reverse swing late in the day.

Early in the day, Nauman had more chances. His figures would have been much better than 2 for 137 if they had been converted, and Pakistan might well have won the entire Test match. When Williamson was on 15 and 21, he had bowled superbly to induce errors, but Sarfaraz Ahmed was unable to stump him both times. To be fair to the wicketkeeper, they were moderately challenging opportunities.

Following Devon Conway’s dismissal for 92, Williamson batted for the first time since giving up the Test captaincy in the sixth over of the day. Conway was out lbw to Nauman after a 183-run first-innings partnership with Latham. He was trapped inside Nauman’s crease on the back foot. Aleem Dar, the umpire, initially ruled that Conway was not out, but after review, the decision was reversed.

Latham stormed to his morning hundred, his 13th Test hundred, while Williamson was still trying to get his bearings. His century, surpassing John Wright’s 12, set a New Zealand record for the most Test opener centuries.

However, before lunch, Latham fell while attempting a reverse sweep against Abrar, who popped up at first slip. Mitchell, Abrar’s second wicket of the day, was also taken by a wrong reverse sweep.

Williamson started his innings cautiously, trying to get back on his feet after a recent poor run with the bat. He got his first runs by using the sweep, but as the ball got older, he took advantage of Abrar’s inconsistent play to hit him for three fours through midwicket in seven balls. That propelled him into his 40s, and he soon hit fifty by punching to additional cover.

After a concise 41-run stand with No. 4 Henry Nicholls ended the game with the left-handed batter slicing Nauman to the stumps; Williamson took a backseat while Mitchell scored the most runs. That permitted him to unobtrusively move into the 70s, which he further added to, when Blundell drew out his strokes. When the spinners pitched it up outside off, Williamson was the only player who really tried to hit big shots. Otherwise, the majority of his runs came from his nudges and nurdles.

Williamson reached his century late in the day. It was his 25th century in Tests, his 5th against Pakistan, and his first since his 238 against the same opponents in January 2021. He drove Wasim to the middle of the 123rd over and arrived at his destination. However, the day’s activities did not end there. Ish Sodhi became the No. 1 contender after Michael Bracewell succumbed late in the day. 8, to defeat 20 balls during a difficult period of play and remain unbeaten on 1 with Williamson.

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Williamson reached a zenith at the end of the day, but another former Test captain completed his arc of redemption at the beginning of the day. Sarfaraz was asked to lead Pakistan in the morning session because Babar Azam was one of three players who fell ill with symptoms resembling the viral flu. Even though Babar came back after lunch, Sarfaraz’s brief time in charge brought the man who had been dropped from captaincy and the team full circle since his last Test appearance in January 2019 to a close.