Tea New Zealand 449 and 151 for 4 (Latham 62, Williamson 41, Hamza 1-22, Hasan 1-27) lead Pakistan 408 by 192 runs
Williamson and Latham kickstarted the run-scoring soon after lunch, progressively picking up the pace with the latter reaching his 25th half-century in the 31st over by cutting Naseem Shah for four.
Two balls in, new batter Henry Nicholls was then given out by umpire Aleem Dar, the batter pressing forward to drive, but the review showed there was gap between bat and ball.
Abrar then turned it on next over, getting Williamson lbw on 41 off an attempted sweep. Williamson asked for a replay, only for the ball to keep the umpire’s call in Pakistan’s favour with the ball nicking leg stump. Blundell, off the first ball, was given out lbw with Abrar delivering a googly. However, Blundell reviewed and survived courtesy an inside-edge.
The frenetic period of play boosted Pakistan’s morale and kept the two new batters quiet. Nicholls played 18 dots in his first 20 deliveries, and when he tried to pull Hasan Ali, he gave a catch to mid-off on 5.
Bracewell and Blundell then saw the session out, the former hitting the only two boundaries in their 56-ball unbroken partnership of 23. Blundell held one end up, using his feet not to attack but to negate Abrar’s turn, and mostly playing defensive. Blundell could’ve been out last over before tea though. He went unbeaten into the break after surviving an edge to the keeper Sarfaraz Ahmed, off Abrar, while pushing at a length ball.
Earlier in the day, Latham and Williamson had helped New Zealand reach 76 for 1 after Devon Conway was out for a first-ball duck. They came into bat early on day four after Pakistan were all out for 408 in the first over of the morning.