Half-centuries from Haris Sohail and an unexpectedly restrained Shahid Afridi revived a floundering chase as Pakistan won a thrilling first ODI by three wickets. New Zealand, having hauled themselves out of a mire of their own thanks to a century from Ross Taylor, were running away with the game at the three-quarter mark, but Haris
Trent Boult ran through the Pakistan top order in a menacing new-ball spell that extinguished early any chance the home side had of batting five-and-a-half sessions to save the Test. The spinners then chipped away at the rest – Mark Craig becoming only the third New Zealand spinner to register a ten-wicket haul – to
Pakistan took a little more than an hour on the fifth morning to claim the last two New Zealand wickets to win the Abu Dhabi Test by 248 runs. The result made Misbah-ul-Haq Pakistan’s most successful Test captain, his 15th victory taking him ahead of Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. The finish seemed imminent when