At end of rain and bad-light hit fourth day's play in third cricket Test on Monday, Pakistan erased a deficit and take 99-run lead while New Zealand managed to take four wickets. Pakistan were 347 for four by the end of the day's play. After early loss of well-set openers Imran Farhat and Salman Butt, both to innocuous offspin of greenhorn bowler Guptill, onus fell on Faisal and his captain Mohammad Yousuf to carry on good work.
That they did, adding 128 even though it wasn't always a convincing effort. Faisal Iqbal, whose chancy 67 was one half of a crucial third-wicket partnership which helped Pakistan take lead. Yousuf had a let-off when Guptill missed a run-out chance after a suicidal call for a single and Faisal was reprieved after a caught-behind decision was reviewed. Hot-spot supported on-field umpire Billy Doctrove's verdict that noise was ball on batsman's thigh pad. Yousuf was dismissed during the last session of play and missed his another Test hundred, he made 89.
"That was a critical partnership during that period between me and Yousuf bhai," said Faisal. "It has set a better milestone for batsmen to come tomorrow and settle down for a long innings." "At the moment we are in a very good position. Tomorrow is very crucial, especially in first two hours. The way Misbahul-Haq and Umar Akmal batter before stumps showed if they hang in their for at least two hours we can be in good position.
If we bat all day it will give a good result. It was a very good day for our team, especially because batsmen did well. They put in their heart and soul and batted whole day." Two-wicket taker, Martin Guptill, whose first chance to bowl in Test cricket snapped a century opening stand, believed New Zealand could dismiss Pakistan as cheaply as possible before allowing their batsmen chase down a hopefully-small total.
Guptill insists New Zealand could "definitely" win this Test. "They are 100 ahead but you just put a couple wickets in early and they're under the pump." Guptill, had never bowled a ball in Test cricket and had just a solitary first-class wicket, opened bowling and removed openers in quick succession to leave Pakistan wobbling. "We just needed to fill an over as Chris (Martin) wanted to come from other end, then I got a wicket so just kept going," he said. "I'm pretty stoked to be able to get two wickets in Test cricket."
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Scoreboard Pakistan 1st innings 223
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New Zealand 1st Innings 471
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Pakistan 2nd innings
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Imran Farhat c & b Guptill 61
Salman Butt c & b Guptill 66
Faisal Iqba c Taylor b Martin 67
M Yousuf c †McCullum b O'Brien 89
Umar Akmal not out 48
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 4
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Extras: (b 3, lb 2, nb 2, pen 5) 12
Total: (4 wickets; 141 overs) 347
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