ICC World Test Championship 
Pakistan VS New Zealand 2nd Test Played at
Christchurch form January 3-7, 2021

Brief Scorecard at Stumps Day two  
Pakistan 1st Innings 291 All Out in 297 in 83.5 Overs (Azhar Ali 93, Mohammad Rizwan 61, Faheem Ashraf 48, Zafar Gohar 34, Abid Ali 25, Kyle Jamieson 5/69, Tim Southee 2/61) 
New Zealand 1st Innings 286/3 in 85 Overs (Kane Williamson 112*, Henry Nicholls 89*, Tom Latham 33, Shaheen Shah Afridi 1/45, Mohammad Abbas 1/37) 
New Zealand Trails by 11 runs with 7 wickets at hand 

Pakistani pacers dominating the proceedings in the first session of day two had Kiwis cornered at 3/71. 

Bowling at right corridor they almost triggered a collapse of Kiwi middle order. Latham, Blundell and Taylor were back in the hut by 71. Had not been a no ball of Shaheen Nicholson would have been gone. Kiwis at 74/4 could be struggling. But champion batsman Williamson shouldering the him led the recovery and together with Nicholson workout yet another match defining unfinished 115 runs 4th wicket partnership. Williamson produced yet another quality unbeaten 112. New Zealand finishing the day at 286/3 is only 11 runs behind Pakistan 1st innings. If he scores 11 runs tomorrow Williamson in his 144th innings would be a member of exclusive class of test players scoring 7000 test runs. He will enter the club quicker than maestros Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting and AB Devilries.

New ball was doing a bit this morning swinging and seaming. Shaheen Afridi, Abbas, Nasim and Fahim were bowling at right channels. The openers Blundell and Latham were removed in consecutive overs. Taylor also did not last long. Pakistan bowlers were threatening to trigger collapse of Kiwi batting. Nicholson could also be gone when Nicholson also knocked behind to Rizwan off Shaheen. But Shaheen unfortunately over stepped. From there on Williamson and Nicholson not only steadied the rocking boat but also steered Kiwis out of troubled water to a zone of comfort. Williamson has scored centuries in every test he has played during the current cricket summer. Williamson and Nicholson have scored four century partnership in test cricket. Only Virat Kohlli and Ajinka Rahane scoring 5 test century partnership is now ahead of them. 

Williamson scored 251, 129 in the earlier two tests and now is batting at 112. No other batsman during the ongoing CODID pandemic is more consistent than prolific Kiwi captain. 

If New Zealand takes a good enough lead from here they can really press for yet another clean sweep. Their position at the top of ICC test ranking will be consolidated. 

Pakistan is not completely out of the test yet. If they can restrict home team lead within manageable proportion and bat well in the second innings they can at least salvage an honourable draw. But that will not be easy in the context of the match. 

BDST: 1507 HRS, JAN 04, 2021
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