Yasir Shah dives to celebrate his six-wicket haul in the second innings as Hassan Ali (right) and Imam-ul-Haq run to join him at the end of Pakistan's victory over New Zealand.
Yasir takes six wickets in second innings after taking eight in the first.
Published: Tue 27 Nov 2018, 3:00 PM
Last updated: Wed 28 Nov 2018, 11:05 PM
If he had taken one more wicket, Yasir Shah would have broken the long-standing record of a man every Pakistani cricketer grows up idolising.
The man who became the Prime Minister of Pakistan only a few months back.
The 32-year-old Yasir wasn't even born when Imran Khan took 14 wickets for 116 runs - best bowling figures by a Pakistani in a Test - against Sri Lanka in 1982 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
BEST MATCH FIGURES FOR PAKISTAN
14/116 IMRAN KHAN V SL, 1982
14/184 YASIR SHAH, VS NZ, 2018
13/101 ABDUL QADIR, VS ENG, 1987
13/114 FAZAL MAHMOOD, VS AUS, 1956 |
It's a record that no Pakistani bowler has come close to breaking.
On Tuesday, Yasir narrowly missed out on a chance to break the record of Pakistani's greatest ever cricketer.
But it hardly mattered as Yasir (14/184) jumped for joy after taking the last of his 14 wickets against New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium as he helped Pakistan bounce back from an embarrassing defeat in the first Test.
His performance in the second innings (6/143) was his 16th five for in his 32-match career. He has now taken 195 wickets in Test cricket and needs five more wickets in three Tests to become the fastest bowler to 200 wickets.
Needing 328 to make Pakistan bat again, New Zealand, resuming at the overnight score of 131/2, were all out for 312 in the last session of the fourth day, losing the match by an innings and 16 runs.
This was a much improved batting performance from New Zealand who were all out for 90 in the first innings.
Ross Taylor (82, 128 balls, 7 fours, 1 six), who was unbeaten on 49 off 53 balls at stumps on third day, and Henry Nicholls (77, 187 balls, 7 fours, one six) fought hard to take the match into the fifth day, but Pakistan bowlers eventually ended their hopes with some fine bowling.
Yasir, who became the first Pakistani to take 10 Test wickets in a day, took four wickets on the fourth day to earn the man-of-the-match award.
Yasir was the hero, but Hasan Ali (3/46) and Bilal Asif (1/61) also played key roles with important wickets on Tuesday.
Hasan was especially impressive and broke the 80-run partnership between Taylor and Tom Latham (50, 158 balls, 4 fours) when he had the latter caught behind.
But it was Asif that gave Pakistan the biggest breakthrough when the dangerous Taylor's sweep ended in the hands of Yasir in the deep square leg.
Nicholls, who had a first innings duck, was in danger of bagging a pair when Pakistan took the DRS after the umpire turned down Hasan's lbw appeal in the second ball he faced in the second innings.
Nicholls survived as the replays showed the ball was missing leg and went on to bat confidently against the Pakistani bowlers.
For long periods on Tuesday, Nicholls remained defiant and found a good partner in BJ Watling (27, 65 balls, 2 fours) as they shared 57 runs for the fifth wicket.
But once Yasir, who toiled hard for a wicket in the morning session, found his rhythm, the writing was on the wall for the Kiwis as the leg-spinner dismissed Watling, Ish Sodhi, Neil Wagner and Trent Boult to spark wild celebrations on the field.
rituraj@khaleejtimes.com
Scoreboard
Pakistan first innings 418/5
New Zealand first innings 90
New Zealand second innings (overnight 131-2)
Raval st Sarfraz b Yasir 2
Latham c Sarfraz b Hasan 50
Williamson c Sarfraz b Yasir 30
Taylor c Yasir b Asif 82
Nicholls b Hasan 77
Watling lbw b Yasir 27
De Grandhomme b Hasan 14
Sodhi b Yasir 4
Wagner c Hasan b Yasir 10
Patel not out 5
Boult c Sarfraz b Yasir 0
Extras: (b 9, lb 2) 11
Total: (all out; 112.5 overs) 312
Fall: 1-10, 2-66, 3-146, 4-198, 5-255, 6-270, 7-285, 8-301, 9-311
Bowling: Abbas 15-7-29-0, Hasan 19-7-46-3, Yasir 44.5-9-143-6, Hafeez 3-1-6-0, Asif 27-5-61-1, Sohail 4-0-16-0
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