We'll regroup, tours away from home is a challenge: Azhar Ali

A half century from the Black Caps captain, Kane Williamson, ensured an easy 8 wicket win for New Zealand at Hagley Oval, with the debutant opening batsman, Jeet Raval, scoring the winning run to finish unbeaten on 36.

Pakistan could only reach till 171 after resuming to bat on their overnight score of 129/7 this morning. Fast bowler Sohail Khan (40) made valuable contributions and ended up as the top scorer before the New Zealand pace attack mopped up the tail.

Tim Southee (3/53), Neil Wagner (3/34) and Trent Boult (3/37) removed Khan, Asad Shafiq and Rahat Ali respectively. New Zealand faced no problem in chasing the simple 105 runs target and smoothly reached home.

Azhar Ali assessed the match and felt that a good first innings total would have certainly given them the advantage. Ali spoke with an optimistic tone and assured that the team will regroup and give a better performance in the next match. Azhar Ali came out to attend the post-match presser as skipper Misbah-ul-Haq had to leave early due to the demise of his father in law. Hs wife Uzma took to Twitter to share the sad news. This certainly confirms that Misbah won’t take part in the next Test and Pakistan will have to manage without their best batsman

Azhar Ali said: “I think we could have played a bit better in the first innings, on that kind of track if you score a good first innings total, you’re always in the game. We take some positives out of the game but there’s lot to improve on. We’ll regroup, tours away from home is a challenge, we have done it in the past and we have belief we can bounce back.”

Williamson also appreciated the team performance and gave a special mention to the debutants – Jeet Raval and Colin de Grandhomme.

Kane Williamson said: “Very good performance, the boys put the recent defeats behind to win a very good Test. I thought it was a good surface, if it went later into today and tomorrow it’s a good batting surface. the pitch didn’t do a lot yesterday but the boys put it in the right areas. It did a bit in the first innings … Colin on that surface nipping it both ways was superb … six-for on debut, he’ll never forget. And Jeet Raval, quite high-pressure situations for him to walk into and do well … We’ll have to look at the surface in Hamilton and see what’s in store.”

It was a terrific Test for New Zealand’s debutants. Jeet Raval with the bat and Colin de Grandhomme with the ball made their presence felt in a match-winning way. But, while Raval clearly outperformed everyone in the batting department, it was De Grandhomme who set the game for his team by snapping 7 wickets in the first innings. The 30-year-old swing bowler was adjudged as the Man of the Match.

“I felt pretty good and confident coming in to the Test match, just tried to take is as another game and that helped. Once I got past the first couple of balls, I felt pretty normal. I felt good [while batting] felt normal. It’ll be hard to better this with the ball but with the bat just focus longer and should be fine, Colin de Grandhomme said after getting the award.”