New Zealand vs Pakistan, 2nd Test at Dubai, Nov 17 2014 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Pakistan stay ahead in the series and the teams move to Sharjah for the last Test. We will be back with our coverage. Thanks for your comments and feedback. Ciao ciao.

"It was a very good Test match. Both teams came out with the right result," says Brendon McCullum. Credit to Pakistan for putting it under a lot of pressure. The toss was really important. We followed the blueprint that Pakistan have been using. We played a brand of cricket which allowed us to a position where we could have won the Test match. I am proud of the boys since we can take the confidence from this match. Bowlers were outstanding throughout. To execute your plans in conditions like this, I was pretty delighted. We are a pretty young team and the confidence is going to serve as well."

Ross Taylor is the Man of the Match for his century. He says, "I was pretty rusty in the first Test. So it was quite nice to spend some time. It was a good Test. Pakistan spinners bowled very well and put us under a lot of pressure. When you play on a pitch like that, there will always be a ball with your number, so you got to keep scoring."

"A little bit (disappointed). We could have done better," says Misbah. "The major difference was the dropped chances. Things could have been different had we taken those. We were planning to chase it down, bat normally till 40-45 overs and then promote Sarfraz but we lost quick wickets in the middle. Sarfraz is in the form of life, his confidence is increasing by the day. The way he played, you could never say that it was a difficult pitch. He could give more winning chances in the future. Just second series (for Yasir) and it's good for us that he is improving. Their spinners took two wickets on the last day but Yasir took five. Full marks to NZ. They really improved after the first game. They put us under pressure with the bowling. It's (failure) part of the game. Sometimes you are not thinking and you get centuries and sometimes you get out when you are in good form."

They are shaking hands. It's a draw. A fair result one would think after five days of gruelling fight between the two teams. The game moved at a slow pace for the first three days before coming to life in the last two. Superb innings from Sarfraz to bring Pakistan closer to New Zealand's total in the first innings, then another excellent innings from Ross Taylor, who helped the visitors go for an aggressive declaration. Pakistan started the chase confidently but that mid-innings wobble broke their momentum. New Zealand would have probably hoped for more from their spinners, who did not really make much impact on the fifth day, leaving a lot for Southee and Boult. But it was not to be. Excellent Test match overall.

Badar: "Devashish, officially it may be a draw, but in fact it's a huge victory for the Kiwis given they really scared Misbah's men and took 15 wickets here compared to only 5 in the 1st test. Looking forward to Sharjah. "

Jawad: "Hats off to Kiwis for a remarkable comeback! Its a win for them as they dominated in many of the sessions after being whipped up in the first test. The prospect of another test match looks much more tempting now! Test cricket is timeless and pretty much one of its kind in sporting world."

Jimmee: "@ Badar Disagree. It's a bigger "loss" for the Kiwis. They were unable to force a win, despite winning the toss, unlike Misbah's team when they had the advantage. They also lost 19 wickets batting 1st and 3rd, and didn't score anywhere near as much as Pakistan did when they had the opportunity. It's not so much an opportunity squandered, as it is a sign that New Zealand weren't capable of playing winning cricket."

More of Baz. Last six overs

Over the wicket now

Mark Craig comes back, he comes round the wicket

Munir Ahmed: "Amazing year of Close tests matches, I am loving it, IND vs SA, ENG vs SRI, then Pak VS SRI all were so close... this is year of close tests matches "

Fairly dark now

Tom: "Guys, the remaining overs have always been notional, given the light. we'd be lucky if we only lost 2 of them, this game has been drawn for a while. Even if they started going at 15 per over, NZ would slow the run rate. A draw is not necessarily a bad thing!"