Pakistan were rocked early but a half-century from captain Babar Azam restored a semblance of hopes as they reached 115/4 at lunch on Day 1 of the first Test against New Zealand in Karachi on Monday. After back-to-back series defeats at home – first to Australia earlier in the year and then England just last week – Pakistan are now up against the BlackCaps, whom they recently defeated in the semifinal of the T20 World Cup. But getting the wood over them in Tests promises to pose a different threat altogether, as evident from the first session where Michael Bracewell picked up two wickets, and Tim Southee and Ajaz Patel grabbed one each to make New Zealand the clear winners of the opening session of this series.
Tom Blundell, the NZ wicketkeeper, earned himself a place in Test cricket's 145-year-long history by producing a unique feat. Blundell had Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood out stumped, which meant that for the first-time ever, the first two wickets to fall in a men's cricket Test match were affected through stumpings. NZ skipper Southee handed the ball to Ajaz Patel in the fourth over of the match and hit the bull's eye as he sent Shafique back in his first ever. The Pakistan opener charged down the wickets but Ajaz pulled back his length to find Shafique jaywalking outside the crease.
Three overs later, New Zealand had their second breakthrough. Masood, in a bizarre dismissal, gave Bracewell the charge but missed connecting bat to ball altogether. Blundell collected the ball and whipped off the bails to produce a feat never seen before in Test cricket. Earlier, back in 1976, a Women's Test match between Australia and West Indies had witnessed the first two wickets to go down to stumpings.
{{/usCountry}}Three overs later, New Zealand had their second breakthrough. Masood, in a bizarre dismissal, gave Bracewell the charge but missed connecting bat to ball altogether. Blundell collected the ball and whipped off the bails to produce a feat never seen before in Test cricket. Earlier, back in 1976, a Women's Test match between Australia and West Indies had witnessed the first two wickets to go down to stumpings.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Pakistan's approach was criticised widely. Trying to replicate England's 'Bazball', Pakistan tried to bat aggressively but the move backfired. Imam-Ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel were the other two wickets to fall before Babar weather the storm by batting sensibly. He was joined by Sarfaraz Ahmed, who is playing his first Test match for Pakistan since January 2019, coming in as a replacement for the out-of-form Mohammad Rizwan.