Iftikhar Ahmed of Pakistan bats during the 3rd Twenty20 cricket match between Pakistan and New Zealand on April 18, 2023 in Lahore, Pakistan. Photo Credit: AP
An inexperienced New Zealand survived a late attack from Iftikhar Ahmed to seal a stunning four-run win against Pakistan and keep their five-match Twenty20 series alive.
Iftikhar hit six sixes and three fours before hitting a blistering 24-ball 60 to almost seal the series 3-0 for Pakistan. But New Zealand medium pacer James Neesham held his composure in the final over and Pakistan were bowled out for 159 on Monday night.
Captain Tom Latham, who led New Zealand in the absence of eight busy frontline players in the Indian Premier League, scored a brilliant 64 off 49 balls to restrict the Kiwis to 163-5.
“We were happy to get a competitive total and it is satisfying to cross the line and keep the series alive,” Latham said.
Pakistan’s strong top order collapsed to be reduced to 88-7 in the 15th over. Iftikhar then counter-punched Pakistan’s joint-fastest T20 half-century off just 20 balls.
Along with Faheem Ashraf, who made 27 off 14 balls, Iftikhar took Pakistan to victory with an eighth-wicket stand of 61.
Faheem was dismissed at long-on in the last over and Pakistan needed 15 runs off the final Neesham over.
Iftikhar hits the first ball for a six over the square leg boundary and hits a crisp boundary on the off side. However, Iftikhar tried to finish the game with another big hit and was caught at long on. Haris Rauf was also trapped in the deep off the last ball. Neesham took 3-38.
Captain Babar Azam said, ‘We did not bat well. The pressure kept building throughout the run chase, (but) Iftikhar delivered and Faheem also scored important runs.
Babar, who scored a century on Saturday, was dismissed for 1 in the second over after a brilliant diving catch by Rachin Ravindra at third man. Chad Bowes cleverly dismissed Mohammad Rizwan for 6 runs in the fourth over.
Ravindra, 2-28, and legspinner Ish Sodhi, 1-11, rattled the batsmen in the middle overs.
Earlier, Latham and Daryl Mitchell (33) revived New Zealand to a 65-run third-wicket stand before falling in consecutive overs at the end of the innings.
Mitchell was caught behind by a slower ball from Shaheen Shah Afridi and caught behind in Latham Rauf’s comeback spell which hit seven fours and two sixes.
Pakistan leads the series 2-1 and Rawalpindi hosts the remaining two matches on Thursday and Monday.