Shakeel ton edges Pakistan towards parity with NZ

Pakistan have ridden on Saud Shakeel's patient first Test century and Sarfraz Ahmed's aggressive 78 to trail New Zealand by just 42 runs after the third day of the second Test.

Left-hander Shakeel batted the whole of Wednesday to finish unbeaten on 124 off 336 balls in an innings which spanned more than eight hours before New Zealand's spinners hit back late with four wickets to leave Pakistan at 9-407 at stumps.

"When I entered the 90s, I got nervous for one, two overs, but Sarfraz told me, 'don't take tension'," Shakeel said after raising his maiden Test hundred in his hometown and hitting 17 fours. 

"Sarfraz is a very senior player, I started my career with him. It was good that he was with me when I scored my century."

Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel (3-88) chipped away in the final session with the wickets of Agha Salman (41) and Hasan Ali (4) through juggling catches by Michael Bracewell and Devon Conway.

Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi (2-94) had Naseem Shah and Mir Hamza clean bowled off successive deliveries, but Abrar Ahmed avoided the hat-trick ball with an umbrella of fielders surrounding him and was yet to get off the mark.

New Zealand could have exposed Pakistan's long tail early after tea still leading by 100 runs, but Tom Latham dropped a regulation catch of Shakeel's lose drive at short point much to the disappointment of skipper Tim Southee (1-62).

Earlier, Shakeel and Sarfraz kept New Zealand at bay with their determined 150-run stand in three hours after Pakistan lost the sole wicket of Imam-ul-Haq in a quiet first session.

Mitchell came close to dismissing Sarfraz off his first ball late in the second session, but the batter successfully overturned umpire Alex Wharf's lbw ruling through television referral. 

But two balls later, Tom Blundell had him stumped after collecting the ball down the leg-side.

TV umpire Ahsan Raza felt Sarfraz's heel was not grounded in the crease when Blundell whipped the bails off.

Sarfraz hit 10 boundaries and faced 109 balls as he continued to dominate New Zealand bowlers after scoring two half-centuries in his comeback Test after almost four years last week.

"It was a little bit of luck in terms of timing," Blundell said. "At first I don't think it was out and then obviously looking on the big screen there's a bit of a chance.

"So for me it was just get the bails off as quick as possible and fortunately for me it was perfect timing."

Shakeel showed plenty of patience but accelerated once he completed his half-century off 173 balls after lunch.

He reached 99 with a swept boundary against off-spinner Bracewell and then ran a quick single to mid-off to raise his memorable maiden hundred off 240 balls with 14 boundaries.

Shakeel had a terrific start to his Test cricket last month when he made four half-centuries in Pakistan's 3-0 loss at home against England. 

He also scored a half-century in the drawn first Test against New Zealand last week.

Imam followed his 96 in the opening Test with 83. Hitting 10 fours and a six, he batted for just over four hours.

Shakeel moved to a gritty 43 at lunch as Sarfraz also shaped well for another big knock with his solid sweeps against the spinners before New Zealand dried up runs in the final session and ran through the tailenders.