PAK vs NZ, 1st Test: Conway, Latham propel New Zealand to 165/0 after Agha Salman's century

Karachi [Pakistan], December 27 : Devon Conway and Tom Latham added 165 unbeaten runs opening stand to propel New Zealand to 165/0 in 47 overs as Pakistan toiled on a Karachi pitch on the second day of the first Test on Tuesday.
The Kiwis are now 273 runs behind Pakistan's first-innings total of 438, which included a brilliant maiden century from middle-order batter Agha Salman.
Conway became the fastest New Zealand batter in history to reach 1,000 runs in his 11th Test when he reached 82 at the close, ably supported by Latham, who was unbeaten on 78.
The fact that Babar Azam himself came on to roll his arm over as stumps approached indicated how dominant the batting was and how ineffective the bowling was, having also bowled the final over before tea. New Zealand's deficit had shrunk to 273 after Agha Salman's maiden Test century earlier in the day had pushed Pakistan to 438.
Salman's 103 was the highlight of Pakistan's batting after skipper Babar Azam fell in the first over of the day without adding to his overnight score of 161.
New Zealand got off to a good start when fast bowler Tim Southee forced an edge off Azam's bat to wicketkeeper Tom Blundell. In his 365-minute innings, Azam hit 16 boundaries and a six.
In the first session, Pakistan also lost Nauman (seven) and Mohammad Wasim (two) for a total of 60 runs. Before New Zealand took two wickets in three runs, Salman added 54 runs for the seventh wicket.
Pacer Neil Wagner caught Nauman with a short-pitched delivery before spinner Ish Sodhi caught Wasim behind. Salman then let go, hitting two consecutive boundaries off Sodhi to finish with three figures. His previous best of 62 came against Sri Lanka in July at Galle.
Southee, who finished with 3-69, finally ended the innings by catching Salman leg before, bringing his Test wicket total to 350 in his 89th Test. He is the third New Zealand bowler to take 350 or more wickets in Tests, joining Richard Hadlee (431 in 86 Tests) and Daniel Vettori (362 in 113) on the list. During his 155-ball innings, Salman hit 17 boundaries.
Ajaz Patel, Michael Bracewell, and Sodhi each took two wickets. The two-match Test series in Pakistan is New Zealand's first since 2002.
Conway became the fastest New Zealand batter to score 1,000 Test runs, doing so in 19 innings on his way to an undefeated 82. Despite the fact that he and his partner are both left-handed, they present completely different challenges to bowlers when they are at the crease together. To demonstrate this point, on Tuesday, they both scored the same proportion of their runs - one-third - in diametrically opposite directions. Conway was in the arc between point and long-off, and Latham was in the arc between fine leg and midwicket.
Conway was lucky to survive a caught-behind dismissal on 57 off-spinner Nauman Ali's delivery. Conway has hit 12 boundaries so far, while Latham has eight hits to the rope.