Three wicket in eight balls had the Blackcaps chasing an improbable test victory over Pakistan early on day four at Abu Dhabi.
Beginning the day at 37/0, the home team needed 140 for victory, but quickly discovered a pitch offering assistance to the NZ spin twins of Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi.
On test debut, Patel had opener Mohammad Hafeez playing and missing three times outside off-stump in the day's opening over, and eventually captured the scalp of Imam-ul-Haq - trapped leg before wicket - in his third over.
Four balls later, Sodhi enticed Hafeez, who chipped the ball to Colin de Grandhomme at cover.
New batsman Haris Sohail took an aggressive approach to Sodhi, hitting his second ball for four, but was caught and bowled next ball.
Suddenly, at 48/3, victory that seemed a forlorn hope for New Zealand now looked at least a possibility.
But as the opening session wore on, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq consolidated Pakistan's strong position, and by lunch, their team needed only 46 runs for victory, with six wickets remaining.
Newshub.
