Former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed brought his ‘A’ game on day five as Pakistan managed to draw the second Test match against New Zealand in Karachi on Friday.

The game went down to the wire, with the last 15 minutes of the last session played under floodlights with Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed at the crease.

The duo batted for 13 minutes and faced 21 deliveries. They survived some close calls, including a close cordon of fielders set by New Zealand captain Tim Southee, as umpires called an end to proceedings due to bad light with three mandatory overs remaining. Pakistan reached 304/9 cashing a 319-run target on the last day of the game.

The day belonged to local boy Sarfaraz Ahmed, who made a memorable comeback in the series and ended up as the leading run getter. He scored 335 runs at an outstanding average of 83.75 runs.

He came to the crease on Friday with Pakistan in dire straits at 80/4 after the departures of Shan Masood (35), Babar Azam (27), and Imam ul Haq (12).

At that stage, he anchored the innings and was the main scorer in a 123-run fifth wicket stand with Saud Shakeel to bring Pakistan back into the game.

The wicketkeeper smashed 118 with the help of nine boundaries and a maximum. He batted for 289 minutes and faced 176 balls.

Saud, who scored his career best 125 not out in the first innings, was dismissed by Michael Bracewell on 32. Bracewell ended up with the figures of 4-75.

Sarfaraz then had a 70-run stand with Salman Agha, who scored 30 off 40 balls. With 32 runs still required, the wicketkeeper was finally dismissed by Bracewell.

Earlier, resuming two down without any runs on the board, Pakistan lost Imam-ul-Haq (12), skipper Babar Azam (27) and Shan Masood (35) before reaching three figures.

Haq fell to a rash drive off Sodhi as the ball spun in and crashed onto the stumps. Azam and Masood then put on 42 runs and were looking solid when Bracewell came into the act.

He first removed Azam with a sharp turning delivery that was edged to wicketkeeper Tom Latham, while Masood miscued a lofted shot and was caught brilliantly by Kane Williamson at mid-off.

Sodhi ended up with the figures of 2-59 and Tim Southee 2-43.