Twitter Reactions: Kane Williamson's 667 minutes of masterclass rubs salt in Pakistan's wounds

Kane Williamson was unbeaten on 199, when a rain break forced the players off the field. But then, the man is the epitome of calmness, and the Kiwi skipper walked back to the dressing room, with no anxiety on his face. After the rain break, the right-hander nonchalantly flicked Shaheen Afridi past mid-wicket to bring up the fourth double century of his career.

There were no celebrations from the man after the landmark, just a raise of his willow to acknowledge the rousing ovation that he received from the crowd. Such was the grace and poise the Kiwi skipper displayed out in the middle that a true connoisseur of Test cricket would have admired his classic knock, irrespective of nationality.

In his marathon stay that lasted 364 deliveries, Williamson scored 238 glorious runs, including 28 delightful boundaries all across the ground. His innings came to an end when he hit Faheem Ashraf straight to Shan Masood at third-man, who for a change held on to the offering.

In the first session of the day, Henry Nicholls and Williamson continued to make life difficult for the Pakistan bowlers. In the pre-lunch session, the left-right duo added 114 runs off 28 overs, scoring their runs at a rate of 4.07 runs per over. The left-handed Nicholls brought up the 7th Test century of his career with a majestic drive past cover.

The Pakistanis finally made the breakthrough in the 120th over of the innings when they managed to scalp Nicholls and ended a mammoth 369-run partnership between the two men. To a short delivery from Mohammad Abbas, the left-hander went for the pull, but he hit it straight down the throat of Naseem Shah at fine leg. BJ Watling was the next man to depart, edging Shaheen Afridi to Haris Sohail in the slip cordon.

A day of milestones for Williamson, Daryl Mitchell scores maiden Ton

Williamson also went past a very significant milestone during the course of the day as he breached the 7000-run barrier in Tests and became the third Kiwi batsman to do so. Williamson also became the fastest New Zealand batsman to 7000 Test runs, reaching there in just 144 innings. The Black Caps skipper is just 264 runs away from becoming the all-time leading run-scorer for New Zealand in Test cricket. The batting Superstar also equaled Brendon McCullum in the all-time list of batsmen with the most double centuries for the Kiwis.

Apart from Williamson’s double hundred, the other bright spot of the day was Daryl Mitchell’s maiden Test century. The right-hander pummeled 8 fours and 2 sixes and scored 102 off just 112 balls, at a strike rate of 91.07. New Zealand declared their first innings with the scorecard reading 659/6, with the last 4.5 overs fetching 60 runs for them.

In reply, Pakistan ended the Day at 8/1, with Kyle Jamieson removing Shan Masood. The left-hander recorded his second duck of the match, as he departed after edging Kyle Jamieson to the slip cordon. Masood has endured a horrible series against New Zealand, aggregating just 10 runs in the four innings that he has played, scoring three ducks.

New Zealand will be looking to wrap things up on Day 4.

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