Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq surpassed legends Imran Khan and Javed Miandad as the nation's most successful Test skipper on Thursday post guiding his squad to outclass New Zealand by 248 runs in the first Test of a three-match series.
Under Misbah's captaincy, Pakistan recorded their 15 th Test win at the Zayed International Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi whereas both Imran and Miandad had led the country to 14 Test wins each.
The victory came as Pakistan produced a ruthless performance by setting a mammoth 566/3 in the first innings and dismissed the New Zealand batting lineup at 262, taking a massive lead of 304 runs, The Dawn reported.
Once again Misbah chose not to enforce the follow-on and Pakistan continued their excellent batting form to declare its second innings at 175/2, leaving New Zealand to chase a daunting target of 480.
Days after a 2-0 emphatic win over Australia, the skipper had hoped for the team to carry on with the winning momentum.
The win against Australia not only motivated the whole team but also proved out to be a confidence-booster for players not in good form.
Taking advantage of the situation, Mohammad Hafeez regained his form and smashed a beautifully played knock of 96 in the first and an unbeaten 101 in the second innings.
Hafeez coming back in his top form is most fortunate for Pakistan as questions were being raised at inadequate team selection for consistently going on with an opener not performing well for quite a time, the report added.
