In a space of just two days, Pakistani leg-spinner Yasir Shah once again tore apart the Kiwi batting and clinched the series leveller in style, winning the contest in Dubai by an innings and 16 runs.
By taking his 14th wicket with figures of 6/143 in the second innings, he helped his team bowl out New Zealand for 312 runs as they fell short by 16 runs to make Pakistan bat again.
Also read: Yasir Shah weaves magic on historic day for Pakistan
Shah had already dismissed Jeet Raval and skipper Kane Williamson for scores of 2 and 30 earlier at the end of the third day to hand his team an advantage after they had bowled out the visitors for a paltry score of 90, having registered a 400+ total in the first innings.
But New Zealand came up with a much-improved performance in the second innings with veteran batsman Ross Taylor amongst the runs with 82 runs. He was one of the three batsmen to cross the 50-run mark after opener Tom Latham scored a half-century while middle-order batsman Henry Nicholls notching up 77 runs.
Barring Shah’s star-studded performance, fast bowler Hasan Ali stood up with three wickets of his own with figures of 3/46. Bilal Asif scalped one wicket.
Brief scores: Pakistan 418 for 5 dec. (Sohail 147, Babar 127*) beat New Zealand 90 (Yasir 8-41) and 312 (Taylor 82, Nicholls 77, Yasir 6-143, Hasan 3-46) by an innings and 16 runs.
Image credit-Cricket Australia