Yasir and Hasan do the damage as Pakistan close in on victory
Hasan Ali said his first five-wicket Test haul will mean nothing if Pakistan do not go on to beat New Zealand in the first Test.
The paceman and Yasir Shah put the home side in a strong position to win in Abu Dhabi with Hasan producing two quickfire double strikes in the New Zealand second innings to return figures of 5-45.
He took two wickets in five balls after lunch and wrapped it up with two wickets in three deliveries to dismiss the visitors for 249, leaving Pakistan with a victory target of 139 after their openers had raced to 37 without loss at close of play on Day 3.
“Needless to say, I am happy with my performance and most importantly to have Pakistan in a strong position,” Hasan said. “I stuck to the simple plan set by bowling coach Ajju bhai [Azhar Mahmood]. Just bowled a tight line.
“We were confident of getting the breakthrough as we were bowling tight and not giving away runs.
“We always knew once we get the breakthrough we will definitely comeback into the match and that’s exactly what happened.
“Yasir took three wickets in two overs and it changed the course of the game.”
A devastating spell of four wickets in 15 balls from Yasir turn the game in Pakistan’s favour in yesterday’s final session at Zayed Cricket Stadium. The leg-spinner returned with 5-110 for a match total of 8-164.
Bradley-John Watling, who top-scored for the Blacks Caps with 59 and shared a 112-run stand for the fifth wicket with Henry Nicholls (55), said there was no danger of the visitors rolling over. “They still need 139 runs and we need to take 10 wickets. It’s a tough ask.
“We’ll come back tomorrow with more energy and good attitude to try and put some pressure on Pakistan,” he said.
In almost a carbon copy of their first inning when New Zealand lost six wickets for 30 runs, Sunday saw them lose six for 29 runs.
“In these conditions things can happen quickly,” Watling added. “We have seen a couple of good partnerships with our batting. We need to add a few more partnerships to stop those slumps.
“We seemed to lose wickets in a bit of cluster. Today was good as we had been struggling a bit out there and as we know it could happen quickly.
“I really didn’t feel like we put them under pressure today by putting up a big total.
“They bowled well through patches. We soaked it up nicely but not for long enough. This is Test cricket. We enjoy these challenges on different conditions. I definitely would like to have set a target of 250. That would have been something to defend but you never know.
“We’ll try to come back tomorrow morning and take a few wickets and put them under some pressure. That would be the plan.
“[The pitch] got a bit of low and slow as the game has gone on, which was to be expected. Let’s see what’s happening tomorrow,” he said.