Pakistan takes control in the final session of play
The last session of the match between Pakistan and New Zealand certainly belonged to Pakistan as captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 and the young Asad Shafiq scored a century partnership to come closer to the first innings total of the home team.
At close of play, Pakistan were 235 for the loss of 4 wickets. Pakistan added 99 runs in the final session as the team was 136 for 4 until tea.
Misbah and Asad continued to score runs steadily for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and Asad capitalized on the start he got. He scored a very good half century at a very crucial stage. The team was in deep trouble when he came out to bat but he coped with pressure very nicely.
The Pakistani captain didn’t look to give away his wicket at all, as is the case in T20 cricket as well. He continued to defend the ball throughout the session without any motivation to score and the Kiwi team grew tired of his stagnant defense.
Seizing the opportunity, Misbah smashed a few good boundaries towards the end of the day to reach his half century. He attacked the part-time spinner Kane Williamson with a lofted sweep shot over mid-wicket for a six. He then followed the six with two back-to-back
boundaries through reverse sweep shots, something he is famous for doing in the most crucial stages of the match.
All the Kiwi players and the commentators seemed stunned at this last minute assault from Misbah. After he had been defending the ball throughout his innings, no-one would have expected a flurry of boundaries from him at that stage of the game.
The heroics of Asad and Misbah led Pakistan to a very safe position in the first test. The visitors were just 40 runs short of the first innings 275 by New Zealand, at close of play.
For http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, none of the bowlers were able to trouble the pair of Misbah and Asad. The captain of the Kiwi team Daniel Vettori was very economical in his spell of bowling but he remained wicket-less which cost the team badly.
The host team will be looking forward to get early breakthroughs tomorrow. If Pakistan play out the first session without losing any wickets, it will be difficult for New Zealand to bounce back in the match.
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