Cricketer Faheem Ashraf turned out to be a messiah for Pakistan as the team managed to avoid the follow on in the first test against New Zealand.

Before the close of the third day’s play at Bay Oval, Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Rizwan scored half-centuries apiece to help their team avoid the follow-on in the first Test.

The duo was positive in their intent, did not hold themselves back, and took the attack to the opposition. Faheem came to the last over of the day needing 13 runs for a first test century. He hit out, striking the first ball for four but edged the next to wicketkeeper Watling. Faheem continued his aggressive approach and pummeled the Kiwi bowlers all around the park.

He was dismissed for 91, his highest Test score, Pakistan were bowled out for 239, still 192 runs behind New Zealand’s 431. New Zealand had consolidated its strong position in the match during the first session in which it dismissed Abid Ali (25), Mohammad Abbas (5), Azhar Ali (5) and Haris Sohail (3).

However, Pakistan resumed its innings on 30-1 on Monday and then lost four wickets for 13 runs before Rizwan and Fawad Alam stopped the rot with a cautious partnership of just 28 runs in 17 overs.

For the New Zealand side, Kyle Jamieson was the prominent bowler. The right-arm pacer bowled probing lengths throughout the day to finish with impressive figures of 3/35.

However, in spite of the heroics from Faheem and Rizwan, Pakistan still have a huge mountain to climb heading into Day 4.