ABU DHABI: Pakistan bowled out for 348 in the first innings of the third and last Test match against New Zealand on the third day in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali both scored tons. Shafiq and Azhar notched 104 and 134 respectively and made a 201-run stand for the fourth wicket which helped Pakistan overhaul New Zealand’s total of 274.
Debutant off-spinner Will Somerville was the pick of the New Zealand bowlers with 4-75.
Azhar, whose last hundred was against the West Indies in Dominica in May 2017, took 210 balls to reach the three-figure mark.
He was followed by Shafiq who scored 104, taking Pakistan, past New Zealand’s first inning score of 274.
Resuming at 139-3, Azhar hit Trent Boult for a boundary off the first ball of the day and then smacked spinner Ajaz Patel for another to enter the eighties.
Boult has figures of 2-54 while fellow paceman Tim Southee has taken 1-39.
The three-match series is tied at 1-1 after New Zealand won the first Test in Abu Dhabi by four runs before Pakistan bounced back with an innings and 16-run win in the second in Dubai.