New Zealand bowled out Pakistan by 186 runs in the second Test match at Christchurch on Wednesday, beating by an innings and 176 runs to sweep the series 2-0 and top the world rankings for the first time.
The home team presented their career best performances while the visitors show-cased their career worst performances. Meanwhile, Shan Masood led the board with his quacktrick.
Kyle Jamieson took three of the four dismisals after lunch as Pakistan went to tea on day four in Christchurch at 134 for seven, needing a further 228 runs to make New Zealand bat again.
The 2.3 metre (6ft 8in) Jamieson had figures of six for 38 to go with his five for 69 in the first innings to become the first bowler to take more than 10 wickets in a Test at Hagley Oval.
The Kiwi bowler with his 11 wickets was the nightmare for the opponent team as he became the first bowler to take more than 10 wickets in a Test at Hagley Oval, leading him to win the Player of the Match award.
Meanwhile, the Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson with Man of the Series performance led from the front taking his team to not only a series victory but also the number one ranked Test team in the world right now.
The 30-year-old scored 388 runs in the two Tests at a whopping average of 129 including a double ton in the same match.
There was resistance from Azhar Ali (37), Abid Ali (26) and later Faheem Ashraf (28) and Zafar Gohar (37), but the batsmen couldn’t stitch together partnerships big enough to demotivate New Zealand, and that proved to be their undoing.
Zafar Gohar, the debutant, resisted well thereafter, but Williamson got into the act with the ball at the other end, dismissing Shaheen Afridi (7). When Gohar then holed out off Boult, history was sealed.
Williamson is also crowned as the first centurion of 2021.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s performance was the worst. Worst bowling, fielding and performances by the players except for Muhammad Rizwan, who tried his best in both the matches with his three half-centuries.
Netizens criticised Masood for his performance in the Tests – the left-handed Pakistan opener scored a pair of ducks in the second Test against New Zealand, which when paired with his duck from the second innings of the previous Test gave him three straight failures.
Former Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi also expressed his disappointment over the national squad’s hapless performance in the second Test at Christchurch, describing it as “very poor”.
His comments come in the wake of Pakistan’s crushing defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the second Test match at Christchurch by an innings and 176 runs.
