NZ VS PAK - 1st Test, Pakistan tour of New Zealand, 2016

Modern lifestyle broods impatience that affects everything around us. Tests are not immune to it. Not very long ago, red-ball cricket was deemed boring; and people thought the 'fear' of not getting a result despite giving it all for 5 days was a major roadblock in it becoming popular among the not-so-traditional audiences. Not anymore though. I spent the first day of this match sipping coffee and hoping to see some cricket. And just like that a day was lost... 90 overs which could have produced so much were washed out. But the following days the weather was soothing. A delightful tussle between two good sides ensued, yielding a result with more than a day to spare. Tests have evolved. What led to that evolution is for everyone to see. I would have wanted to discuss more on that but I see my co-commentator Abhinand Raghavendran itching to rush back home. So that's it. It was a pleasure bringing this one live to you. A big thank you to our scorer Srinivas as well. This is your host Abhishek Chaudhary signing off. Enjoy your Sunday!

Colin de Grandhomme: "Felt pretty good coming into this match. Had bowled well. Once I bowled a couple of balls the nerves were gone. Was feeling normal while batting as well. It will be tough to better the effort with the ball but in batting, I would like to focus more and bat longer."

Williamson: "Very good performance from the boys. It was a very good surface. Day one it did something, but it was very good to bat today. We did well with the ball in the second innings when the surface had become good to bat. It was a great performance by the bowlers against a good Pakistani side, who always tour well. Great performance by both the debutants. Nice to spend some time in the middle. A nice time to bat, you always want more. We are up against a challenging Pakistani side and the boys are looking forward to it. We will have to see the surface at Hamilton."

Azhar Ali: "Unfortunately, Misbah's father-in-law is very serious and he had to go back to attend him. All prayers are with him. Yeah, it (not able to play the practice game) did affect. But, as the no.2 ranked team, we should have played better than that. Things didn't go as per plan. First innings was helpful for the bowlers, but we should have scored more runs. If you score good, you'll always be in the game. Bowlers bowled really well. When they hit the right ares, good results for. We'll take positives out of this game, but we'll regroup again. Tour away from home is always challenge, We've done it before. We'll bounce back."

With Misbah and Azhar Ali stonewalling almost everything, Wagner unleashed a flurry of bouncers. It worked, it mostly does against the players from the sub-continent. Today morning, it was all about how many could Pakistan add to make a match out of it. Sohail Khan tried his level best but still the pitch had eased out and 105 was not going to give headaches. The formalities were completed after lunch. While it has been a low scoring match, Pakistan would be a little worried by what they saw from Yasir Shah. No matter how skilled the bowlers are these days, it ultimately comes down to the conditions they have on offer. Before this game Yasir had played 19 Test matches and not on one instance had he gone wicket-less. He has been one of the major match winners for Pakistan of late but looked off-colour in this game. Whether or not he will be a part of the final XI in Hamilton will be interesting to see...

14:27 Local Time, 01:27 GMT, 06:57 IST: Complete dominance from the hosts. They were the better side. True that they won the toss on a green track which was under covers. But it did not do much in the first hour on the second day. It was only later that the ball moved, and once it moved, Pakistan were left clueless. Surrendered meekly and the Kiwis won the first round. New Zealand batters once looked like getting a big first innings lead but the Pakistani pacers came back hard to restrict them. However, it was during the second innings that New Zealand used a completely different ploy to outsmart the tourists.

Yasir Shah to Jeet Raval, FOUR, short ball and he goes back to pull it over mid-wicket. One bounce and over the ropes. New Zealand win by 8 wickets and go 1-0 up in the 2-match Test series

Yasir Shah to Jeet Raval, no run, and again, kept out off the back foot

Yasir Shah to Jeet Raval, no run, flatter ball, defended

Henry Nicholls, left handed bat, comes to the crease

Azhar Ali to Williamson, out Caught by Sami Aslam!! What was that. How many times have we seen that. Azhar Ali celebrates as if he has won the match for his team. Sometimes you take pride in delaying the inevitable, one of those moments for him perhaps. Williamson goes for the sweep and top edges it to the fine leg in the ring. The batsmen did not cross over and once again Jeet Raval will have a chance to hit the winning runs. Williamson c Sami Aslam b Azhar Ali 61(77) [4s-4 6s-1]

Azhar Ali to Williamson, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Azhar Ali to Williamson, no run, flatter ball. Williamson goes back and tucks to backward square leg. Sent back as he wanted a single

Azhar Ali to Williamson, no run, very full. Driven back to the bowler

Azhar Ali to Williamson, no run, gets a stride across and works to square leg, wants a single but it is not there

Azhar Ali to Williamson, no run, tossed up delivery around off, Williamson defends off the front foot

Azhar Ali to Williamson, no run, flatter ball. Williamson pushes off the back foot to mid-on

Yasir Shah to Jeet Raval, no run, quicker delivery outside off, Jeet Raval is beaten on the defence. In all probability, he won't be scoring the winning runs now. Such is life

All the fielders are in the ring

Yasir Shah to Jeet Raval, no run, very full. Jams the drive to mid-on