New zealand cricket team
New Zealand end Pakistan defiance for thrilling Test win
The win tentatively put New Zealand top of the World rankings and kept alive their chances of making the World Test Championship final.
New Zealand declared their second innings at 180 for five and Pakistan, set an unlikely target of 373, will go into the final day at 71 for three.
Faheem Ashraf soldiered on to a career-best 91 before he was the last wicket to fall.
India and Australia head New Zealand on the Test championship ladder, but if India continue to struggle and New Zealand sweep the series against an under-strength Pakistan, it could be enough to see the Black Caps at Lord's for the final in June.
Pakistan reached New Zealand's target with two balls to spare, ending on 177 after Iftikhar Ahmed sealed the win with a six in the final over.
Khan has won the toss in the previous two matches of the series, with Pakistan suffering heavy defeats both times.
International cricket found a way through this year's coronavirus pandemic but the strain of 'bubble life' was evident by the end of 2020.
Cricket West Indies chief Johnny Grave said he was 'bitterly disappointed' at the breaches, which he said had the potential to jeopardise the entire tour.
The top-order batsmen both opted out of the Test series against England in July that marked the return of international cricket following the coronavirus shutdown.
Bangladesh are scheduled to play a one-day international in Christchurch on 17 March and are likely to be in the city on 15 March, two years to the day after a gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques and wounded another 40.
The Test, scheduled for Perth in late November, would have been the first played between cricketing superpower Australia and minnows Afghanistan.
The first one-day international will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground later on Friday with the second at the same stadium on Sunday and a third in Hobart next Friday.
The Black Caps dismissed the tourists for 124 in the first hour of the day before chasing down their 132-run victory target with half of the test to spare for the loss of three wickets.
The world's top-ranked team crashed to a 10-wicket defeat in the first session of day four to snap a nine-Test unbeaten streak dating back to the 2018 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
The world's top-ranked team crashed to a 10-wicket defeat in the first session of day four to snap a nine-Test unbeaten streak dating back to the 2018 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
In front of home fans in Wellington on Friday, he will become the nation’s fourth cricketer to play 100 tests after Fleming, Daniel Vettori and Brendon McCullum.
It is the first time India have been whitewashed in a bilateral ODI series of three or more matches since 1989 and the only time it has ever happened against New Zealand.
Talk of possible travel fatigue after only arriving in New Zealand three days ago, did not eventuate as Virat Kohli's men hauled in New Zealand's 203 for five with Rahul making 56 and Iyer unbeaten on 58.
Dhawan, a regular opening batsman for India’s limited-overs teams, hurt his left shoulder while diving on the field in the series-clinching one-day international win over Australia in Bengaluru on Sunday.