Day 2 should see Pakistan move to an impregnable position but a lot will depend on the current pair of batsmen. With Sarfraz and Shafiq waiting in the wings and not much in the pitch so far, a 450+ score beckons for the Pakistanis as does a hard day of toil for the visitors.

By Azfar Khan (26th November, 2014)

Stumps Day 1: Pakistan 281/3 with Mohammad Hafeez 178* & Misbah-ul-Haq 38

An excellent day for Pakistan after they won the toss and elected to bat first. Pakistan made two changes for today, Mohammad Hafeez and Mohammad Talha who replaced Taufeeq Umar and Ehsan Adil. For New Zealand Daniel Vettori made his return to the Test side in place of James Neesham.

Pakistan started their innings with a new batting pair of Mohammad Hafeez and Shan Masood who gave Pakistan a solid start as compared to the previous Test match. Their partnership was looking set until Shan Masood was bowled by Mark Craig in a similar fashion he got out to in the previous Test. Pakistan were 44 /1 when Azhar Ali joined Mohammad Hafeez at the crease. The two batted conservatively until the last 2 overs of the first session when they took on Sodhi and Craig for 18 runs in 8 balls finishing the session at 82/1. 

Pakistan started their second session with a more positive intent. Mohammad Hafeez who was looking extremely good scored majority of the runs and brought up his half century at a brisk pace. Runs were flowing from Hafeez's bat and the partnership started looking threatening until Azhar Ali nicked a simple catch on a harmless delivery to slip fielder Taylor off Craig's bowling with Pakistan moving to 131/2

Younis Khan joined Hafeez in the middle but couldn't stay for long as he was struck LBW off Daniel Vettori's bowling. Pakistan were 160/3 when skipper Misbah-ul-Haq joined the party. Hafeez brought up his 7th Test Century in Test by cutting a widish ball through point for 2 runs. Pakistan ended the the second session at 186/3.

Last session of the day started with Hafeez continuing with his aggressive approach and very quickly reaching the 150 mark. Misbah found some luck when his catch was dropped by Watling off Sodhi's bowling but nothing was stopping Hafeez from scoring boundaries and sixes. The final session of the day ended when Hafeez at 178, scoring half of team runs on Day 1. Pakistan finished the day at 281/3 with Misbah still supporting Hafeez from the other end.

Day 2 should see Pakistan move to an impregnable position but a lot will depend on the current pair of batsmen. With Sarfraz and Shafiq waiting in the wings and not much in the pitch so far, a 450+ score beckons as does a hard day of toil for the visitors.

Discuss!