Tom Latham and Devon Conway attacked with a 52-run stand off just 6.3 overs in the chase that was cut short by bad light 

An out-of-the-blue declaration by Babar Azam set New Zealand a target of 138 in the final hour of the first Test in Karachi. Babar was all smiles after making the call, but it was a strange move. A Pakistan win was all but impossible but a New Zealand win couldn’t be ruled out even though a draw was the most likely result.

New Zealand promoted Michael Bracewell to open with Devon Conway. Though Bracewell fell for 3, Conway and Tom Latham kept going for the target. At one stage, New Zealand needed 83 from nine overs. Babar looked concerned but a fading light lit up his face again as the game was called off when the target was 77 runs away with 7.3 overs left.

Earlier, Ish Sodhi’s maiden five-wicket haul left Pakistan precariously close to their fifth successive defeat in the format. They were 206 for 7 – effectively 32 for 7 – with close to 50 overs left in the game, but Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Wasim added 71 for the eighth wicket to pull them out of the danger.

Brief scores

Pakistan 438 (Babar 161, Agha 103, Sarfaraz 86, Southee 3-69) and 311 for 8 dec (Imam 96, Shakeel 55*, Sodhi 6-86) drew with New Zealand 612 for 9 dec (Williamson 200*, Latham 113, Conway 92, Abrar 5-205) and 61 for 1 (Latham 35*, Abrar 1-23)

(Cricinfo)