After being reduced to 71/3 in the second session, New Zealand mounted a comeback in the third session, finishing Day two of the second test on 286/3 in Christchurch. It needed a Kane Williamson masterclass against the likes of Mohammed Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi to stamp the Kiwis’ authority on the match. At stumps, the Kiwi captain was unbeaten on 112.
Pakistan didn’t begin the day as they would’ve wanted, going wicketless in the first hour. Just when the opening partnership had started to look threatening, Pakistan made a breakthrough, dismissing both the openers in quick succession. Along with Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson started to rebuild the innings, but Pakistan struck again after the lunch break to get rid of Ross Taylor. Till that point the match was well-balanced.
However, Williamson had other plans as he continued his good form in home conditions. Williamson began on a cautious note, focusing more on singles. The newly crowed number one test batsman started playing strokes after he was settled on the pitch. Courtesy of his stroke play, scoring rate improved for Kiwis when the visitors introduced spin. This flawless ton has taken Williamson to 11 short of 7000 test runs.
Williamson was given good company by Henry Nicholls. After getting reprieve early in the innings, Nicolls made the most of the opportunity and coasted to 89 by the end of the day. Pakistan needs to pull their socks up tomorrow to stop New Zealand to post a huge score. They have a potent attack on paper. It is high time for Abbas and co. to show their true mettle or else Kiwis will bat them out of the game on the third day of the test.