Daily Times

In what will go down as one of the epic batting collapses, Pakistan batting line-up on Tuesday crumbled in front of the Kiwi quicks and faltered for just 230 runs in the chase of 369 during the second of the two-Test series at Hamilton.

Starting the day at one without a loss, openers Sami Aslam and Azhar Ali snail-paced Pakistan to 131 in 57 overs at just a shadow above two runs per over before the stand-in skipper dragged Mitchell Santner back on his off-stump attempting a full-stretched cover drive.

Babar Azam, who remained unbeaten on 90 during the first innings, fell in a similar fashion as his skipper after adding 16 runs to the Pakistan total. Sami Aslam failed to manage his maiden Test century for the second time as he fell on 91. The left-hander’s dismissal sparked a batting collapse that saw the next seven wickets falling for just 49 runs.

Pakistan middle-order, standing on the experience of Younis Khan, and the prowess of Sarfraz Ahmed, Asad Shafiq, and the debutant Mohammad Rizwan added just 43 runs with Shafiq registering his fifth nought in his last seven Test matches.

Left-arm pacer Neil Wagner finished the job as he removed the tail in just five balls.

Pakistan now head to Australia for a three-Test series, starting with a pink-ball Test at Brisbane from December 15.