Ahmed Shehzad sees the light

Brendon McCullum had given New Zealand a typically brutal start, and Pakistan responded by bringing on Shahid Afridi in the sixth over of the innings. Third ball of the over, Afridi saw McCullum stepping out of his crease and bowled it quicker and a touch shorter. McCullum swung and missed. The ball cleared the top of middle stump by an inch and bounced off Sarfraz Ahmed's gloves. Sarfraz, unhelmeted, had closed his eyes as the ball passed the batsman, flinching to avoid the possibility of flying bails.

Fourth ball of the 48th over, Ross Taylor pushed Mohammad Irfan into the off side and took off for the single. The bowler, sprinting across from his follow-through, dived but could not intercept the ball, which rolled through to the mid-off fielder. Irfan was just about to get up when he realised that he was right between the fielder and the stumps at the keeper's end, the target of the impending low, flat throw. Trying to make himself as small a target as is possible for someone who is 7'1" tall, Irfan ducked into an uncomfortable crouch, just in time to evade the throw.

Ahmed Shehzad began Pakistan's chase with a series of rousing boundaries, clearing his front leg and hitting where the line dictated. In the 10th over, Trent Boult went around the wicket and followed him with a bouncer. Shehzad leaned his head out of the way and sliced hard, under the ball, to ramp it over the keeper for four.

For most part of his innings, Shehzad was batting on a pitch striped by the lengthening shadows of the floodlight towers. In the 20th over of Pakistan's innings, Shehzad was a touch late on a defensive shot off Daniel Vettori's bowling. The reason became quickly apparent - Shehzad walked up to the umpire, indicating that he was having trouble seeing the ball in the glare of the sun, which was setting right behind Vettori's arm. Brendon McCullum walked up to Shehzad and offered him his sunglasses, but the batsman declined and returned to take strike again.