Pakistan stumble to 115-4 at lunch in 1st Test against NZ

Pakistans top order stumbled early against New Zealands spinners on a dry and tacky wicket to reach 1154 on the opening day of a twoTest series on MondayCaptain Babar Azam got a reprieve on 12 and also survived lbw television referral in Ish Sodhis first over to be unbeaten on 54 at the breakRecalled former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed playing his first Test since 2019 was not out on four as New Zealand took the early advantage in its first Test in Pakistan in 20 yearsBabar raised his fifty off 76 balls when he drove Sodhi through midon off the backfoot for his seventh boundary before Tim Southee made further inroads in his return spell by dismissing Saud Shakeel 22 in the penultimate over before lunchShakeel who scored four halfcenturies in Englands 30 clean sweep against Pakistan last week played a loose drive against Southee and offered a regulation catch in the gully just when it looked the pair had started to rebuild the inningsSpinners Ajaz Patel and Michael Bracewell found plenty of turn in the first hour after Southee lost the toss in his debut as New Zealand skipper and Babar elected to batAlso readPakistan wins toss elects to bat against New ZealandSouthee read the slow and dry wicket quickly and brought on his spinners with the new ball just three overs oldPatel got the breakthrough off his third ball as Abdullah Shafique 7 was stumped after getting beaten on two successive deliveries from the leftarm spinnerShan Masood also tried an over ambitious shot against Bracwells 3 offspin and Tom Blundell got his second stumping before ImamulHaq 24 played a reckless shot and holed out to Southee at midoff to leave Pakistan struggling at 483Pakistan made three changes from the team which lost to England by eight wickets at the same venue last week Sarfaraz got his first Test in three years after allformat wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan was restedMir Hamza was also drafted into the playing XI after the leftarm fast bowler played his only test against Australia in 2018 in Abu Dhabi Hamza replaced allrounder Faheem AshrafOpening batter Imam also returned to the side after missing out Pakistans last Test due to a hamstring injury Masood moved down the order at No 3 as Azhar Ali retired from Test cricket after playing his last test against EnglandSouthee was appointed captain for the twoTest series after Kane Williamson stepped down from the captaincy before the Black Caps first test tour to Pakistan since 2002New Zealand did play an ODI series in Pakistan in 2003 and was due to play a limitedovers series in Pakistan last year but abandoned its tour just hours before the toss in the first ODI due to security concernsWeather concerns in Multan has forced the Pakistan Cricket Board to organize the entire tour of the Black Caps in Karachi which include two Test matches and three ODIsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever