Sarfaraz Ahmed
is the Player of the Match and the Player of the Series. What a comeback. True cornered tiger spirit. He says: ” I was part of the team for four years and despite not getting chances here I was continuing to play well elsewhere. Wanted an opportunity from Allah and got it. I was very tense in the first Test, but the boys and captain gave me confidence. (Last session today) When 140 runs were left, the management said that you need to keep trying to score when the ball is there to hit. But then two wickets fell, and so we changed our style of play. If those two wickets didn’t fall then the result could’ve been something else. (This century – the best?) It is the fourth-innings century so it is special, probably my best. (Karachi crowd) The Karachi crowd has always supported me. And always supported the team. Request them to come for the ODIs too.”
Tim Southee:
(Final session) Came down to the last moments, a great end to ten days of pretty tough toil. (Leading position for most of the Test, did you think it would slip away?) We got ourselves to push for a win, but the way Sarfaraz played sort of took the game away from us. Funny game, we saw, in the end, it was still up for grabs. (Series for bowlers?) Sodhi’s comeback after not playing Tests for a long time, we are thrilled for him. Michael Bracewell keeps developing too. Overall, a pretty tough surface for the boys to keep asking questions and trying. We knew from the nature of the surface that things could happen late in the Test, Sarfaraz was probably the difference, we could’ve won had we got them earlier. (Outing as captain – good?) You approach every Test to win. Pretty tough tour to play for 10 days on the same ground. Looking forward to the one-day series.
Babar Azam:
(Final session – life in the game) Our plan after tea was to go for the chase. Sarfaraz accelerated and Saud took some chances, and that’s when we thought we’ll go for it. (Plan) Our plan was to keep things simple till the final session. If we got a partnership in the middle order then it would’ve been a different plan. Our plan changed after Agha was out. (Home season) We didn’t perform as per people’s expectations but there were positives: we want to polish the positives and remove the negatives. (Sarfaraz) Dream comeback for him. Saifi bhai did not let the fire die within him in four years. Work ethic was always there and continued to wait for his turn. We could’ve won also briefly, and it was because of his confidence and belief.”
Pakistan vs New Zealand Highlights today. 2nd Test, National Stadium, Karachi, Friday 6-1-2023, New Zealand tour of Pakistan 2022/23.
New Zealand, elected to bat first.
Pakistan team: 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Shan Masood, 4 Babar Azam (capt), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), 7 Agha Salman, 8 Hasan Ali, 9 Naseem Shah, 10 Mir Hamza, 11 Abrar Ahmed
New Zealand team: 1 Tom Latham, 2 Devon Conway, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Henry Nicholls, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Tom Blundell (wk), 7 Michael Bracewell, 8 Tim Southee (capt), 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Matt Henry, 11 Ajaz Patel
Head to Head In Test’s: 61
Pakistan Won: 25
New Zealand Won: 15
Pakistan Test Rankings: 6th
New Zealand Test Rankings: 5th
Form guide
(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan DLLLL
New Zealand DLLLL
Match Timings: 5:00 AM GMT | 10:00 AM Local
Umpires – Aleem Dar, Alex Wharf
TV Umpire – Ahsan Raza
Match Referee – Muhammad Javed
Reserve Umpire – Asif Yaqoob
Match number – Test no. 2486
Wow Pakistan when will you win?
I am tired of praising opponent teams.