Needing one wicket to win the series, with 10 fielders crowding around the bat, the Black Caps barely ran out of time.
Bad light brought a premature close to the second test between New Zealand and Pakistan last night in Karachi, seeing the match and series end in a draw.
But that simple and rather unsatisfying result did nothing to capture the theatre that unfolded on the fifth day.
When the umpires broke the unfortunate news, there had been three overs left to play. The Black Caps, with leading wicket-takers Ish Sodhi and Michael Bracewell bowling in tandem, required a solitary scalp to earn a rare test triumph in Pakistan.
But the hosts, with No 10 Naseem Shah and No 11 Abrar Ahmed at the crease, weren’t merely hanging on - they were 15 runs short of completing a record chase.
All three results were eminently possible, as they had been at the start of the final session, as they had been at the start of the final day.
A series that finished 0-0 and for large stretches produced cricket worthy of such a scoreline was somehow culminating in the highest of drama. And then the sun went down.
The players were left to shake hands after bad light stopped play. Photo / AP
It was difficult to imagine how the Black Caps felt as the waning light proved ultimately decisive.
Aggrieved at an opportunity lost, almost certainly. They could have easily left their first tour to Pakistan in 20 years with a 2-0 sweep, and they began day five in a manner that suggested a second-test victory would soon become a decent consolation.
Conversely, the tourists must have experienced an element of relief. After all, it was Tim Southee setting defensive fields in the third session, and it was the home side who had seemed set to snap a winless run.
Instead, after the match had fluctuated another four or five times, the trophy was shared, the emotions mixed.
It was, on the basis of those wild closing swings, a fair result: two flawed teams, now each without a victory in six tests, met their match.
New Zealand has been the unanimous winner of the early rounds of day five. Having reduced Pakistan to 0-2 late on day four, their defence of 319 appeared in little doubt when Sodhi (2-59) and Bracewell (4-75) combined to reduce the hosts to 80-5 before lunch.
The spin duo were aided by some self-destructive shot selection from Pakistan’s top order, while skipper Babar Azam was unlucky to be caught down legside, and at the point only one outcome was foreseeable.
Michael Bracewell celebrates the wicket of Shan Masood. Photo / AP
But those early breakthroughs brought together Sarfaraz Ahmed and Saud Shakeel, with the former proceeding to play the innings of his life.
The pair had put on 99 runs for the sixth wicket by tea, scoring slowly but, crucially, offering only a couple of half-chances. Pakistan were 140 runs in arrears heading into the final session, requiring a 4.5 run rate across 31 overs, yet Sarfaraz was undaunted.
In the second over after tea, the veteran wicketkeeper signalled his intention, slogging Bracewell to the square-leg fence and sweeping him over that same boundary the next ball.
But Southee stuck with the allrounder and, two overs later, he broke the 123-run stand by dismissing Shakeel with assistance from Daryl Mitchell’s sharp reactions at first slip.
That wicket, however, would be almost a blessing for the hosts. Shakeel had soaked up 146 deliveries for his 32, and first-test centurion Aghar Salman arrived with an altered approach that just about decided the match.
He and Sarfaraz quickly added 70 from 83 balls, keeping the asking rate below five and prompting plenty of conversations between Southee and predecessor Kane Williamson.
Those discussions couldn’t prevent Sarfaraz from reaching his fourth test century, and at the last drinks break of the series Pakistan needed 70 runs from 15 overs.
New Zealand were now opting for five boundary-riders while Ajaz Patel was reduced to bowling a defensive line outside leg, as Pakistan continued to calmly chip away at what had become an insignificant target.
Until they weren’t. Forty-six runs away from a famous win, Salman decided to play across the line in search of an unnecessary big shot off Matt Henry. His stumps were rocked and his partner left aghast.
Southee then opted for the new ball and, four deliveries later, trapped Hasan Ali in front, suddenly putting Safaraz on the defensive. Seeking to protect the tail, he began declining singles, even with only 33 of them needed from 48 potential balls.
That second figure became less achievable than the first when the light became poor enough that only spin was possible for the final seven overs. But that suited the Black Caps fine.
Bracewell’s reintroduction soon spelled the end of Safaraz, caught well at leg slip by Williamson to conclude an innings of 118 that deserved better than heartbreak. The celebrations indicated New Zealand knew they were close; so, too, did the field placements that brought every man around the bat of Shah and Abrar.
Those tailenders, impossibly, offered one last twist, with Shah twice driving Bracewell to the vacant outfield and reducing the target to 15.
But that’s when the fun stopped, the players told to head home at sundown; no one quite able to bask in the afterglow.
