pak wins
Cricket

T20I Tri-Series: Pakistan defeats New Zealand by 6 wickets

Pakistan smashed hosts New Zealand by six wickets in their tri-series Twenty20 international in Christchurch on Saturday, led by pace combo Haris Rauf and Mohammad Wasim.

Pakistan 149 for 4 (Babar 79*, Shadab 34, Tickner 2-42) defeated New Zealand 147 for 8 (Conway 36, Rauf 3-28, Wasim 2-20, Nawaz 2-44) by six wickets.

The Pakistan captain struck an unbeaten 79 off 53 balls with a strike rate of 149.05 during a successful run chase of 148 to give his team two victories out of two in the competition. On Friday, the Green Shirts defeated Bangladesh in their opening encounter at the same stadium.

The three sides are using the week-long event to prepare for the T20 World Cup, which will take place in Australia later this month.

Earlier today, after electing to bat first, the Black Caps seemed to be on track for a low score at Hagley Oval until Chapman’s 32 from 16 balls, which included three fours and two sixes.

New Zealand’s innings was built around opener Devon Conway (36 off 35) and captain Kane Williamson (31 off 30), though both battled with timing during a 61-run second-wicket partnership.

It was again another discouraging result for the accomplished Williamson, who has reached 50 in all forms only twice in the previous 18 months, a span of 29 innings.

He was clean-bowled by Pakistan’s finest bowler, paceman Haris Rauf, while trying a slog-sweep off spinner Mohammad Nawaz (3-28).

New Zealand captain Williamson: “Certainly wasn’t polished. Bit scrappy. We came up against a quality opposition. Pakistan were clinical and it was hard to get a rhythm. If we got two big overs there, the total would’ve been competitive. We didn’t think it would be this wet, since temperatures were close. It was not a surface you could get easy rhythm. Chapman came in and took the match-ups on, it was an outstanding innings. It was tough to time, even in the second innings. At the same time, Pakistan were outstanding. We pride ourselves in that area. Need to just switch on and hopefully a few learnings going into tomorrow night. The guys are feeling good, and we know its a tough match tomorrow. Same surface, looking forward to tomorrow.”

Pakistan captain Babar : “We played really well. Our bowlers bowled well in the first six and finished well too. As captain, I am very happy. We assessed the conditions and executed the plans. Shadab played well and Nawaz too. Very happy as captain. No extra runs. Very happy and we have done our best. We need to sit together and discuss before next game.”

New Zealand XI: Kane Williamson, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, James Neesham, Michael Bracewell, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Tim Southee, Trent Boult

Pakistan XI: Babar Azam, Haider Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani, Mohammad Wasim

Farzeen K

Farzeen K

farzeen

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.