The second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand wound down to an extraordinary finish on Friday with both sides being with a realistic chance to win the match. Sarfaraz Ahmed's gritty century on Day 5 kept Pakistan with a chance to win despite wickets falling at the other end while chasing a target of 319. Sarfaraz ended up being the 10th wicket to fall after making 118 in 176 balls and the Kiwis then brought the fielders in to surround the two tail-end batters with less than 10 overs to spare in the day.
However, Pakistan also needed only 32 runs to win when the last wicket partnership began and Naseem Shah reduced that margin by hitting over the field and finding the boundary a few times. In the end, Pakistan needed just 15 runs to win with about three overs to spare in the day when the umpires decided that the light was not good enough for the match to go on. The two sets of players shook hands and the second Test, like the first, finished in a draw.
There were a few who were miffed by the decision to end the Test potentially right before a result could have come. Among them was former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris and Kiwi star Jimmy Neesham. “Both teams had a chance of winning and we come off the field with 3 overs to go. Exhibit A of why test cricket is in trouble. Well done both teams for battling all the way,” Styris said in a tweet.
{{/usCountry}}There were a few who were miffed by the decision to end the Test potentially right before a result could have come. Among them was former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris and Kiwi star Jimmy Neesham. “Both teams had a chance of winning and we come off the field with 3 overs to go. Exhibit A of why test cricket is in trouble. Well done both teams for battling all the way,” Styris said in a tweet.
{{/usCountry}}Neesham responded to Styris by saying: “You sit through 4 days of rubbish to set up a genuinely enthralling finish then this s**t happens. What an absolute dog’s breakfast of a sport”
Pakistan have thus stopped an alarming run of Test defeats at home with the drawn series against New Zealand. They had previously been whitewashed by a rampant England team 3-0. It marked the first time that Pakistan had been whitewashed at home. It also made it four back to back defeats in Test matches at home for Pakistan, having the lost the last Test against Australia in a series earlier in 2022.