Pacer Haris Rauf led a scintillating bowling performance with four wickets before the onslaught of Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali as Pakistan sealed a five-wicket victory in the T20 World Cup over New Zealand for a recent off-field snub. Took “revenge”. Tuesday. Barring opener Mohammad Rizwan (33), most of the top-order batsmen struggled, but the experienced Malik (26 not out off 20 balls) and number seven Ali (27 not out off 12) put on 48 runs till the end. A partnership for the sixth wicket brought Pakistan home with eight balls to spare. This was Pakistan’s second consecutive win after a 10-wicket win over India on Sunday.
The New Zealand team, playing in their first match, recently withdrew from a scheduled series against Pakistan, citing a security threat that did not exist according to the host country.
Chasing 135 for a win, skipper Babar Azam (9) and Rizwan got off to a good start but as the chase progressed, they were finding it difficult to get runs and boundaries. Azam was not at his best when compared to his scintillating unbeaten 68 against India and was dismissed in the sixth over by Tim Southee, who took his 100th wicket in T20 Internationals.
Runs were not coming easily for Pakistan at this stage as they reached 30 for 1 at the end of the power play and suffered another setback as Ish Sodhi dismissed Fakhar Zaman (11) lbw in the ninth over. done. Former captain Mohammad Hafeez hit a six as soon as James Neesham was dismissed, as Pakistan reached 58 for 2 for half a point.
But, in the next over, he was dismissed by Devon Conway with a brilliant diving catch off the boundary ropes off Mitchell Santner. New Zealand were back in the match with Rizwan, who had scored an unbeaten 79 against India, dismissed Sodhi lbw in the 12th over. After some relatively quiet overs, Trent Boult got his first wicket in the 15th over by dismissing Imad Wasim (11).
But from there Pakistan changed the script of the match courtesy of Malik and Asif Ali. Pakistan needed 44 runs from the last five overs and came Ali who smashed Southee for two consecutive sixes in the 17th over to turn the match in their favor.
Malik hit a six and a boundary in the next over, before Ali scored the winning run with a six in the skies of Sharjah – a couple – to take Pakistan to 135 for 5 in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rauf led the bowling attack with four wickets as Pakistan restricted New Zealand to a modest score. Opener Daryl Mitchell and Conway contributed 27-27 with top-scoring and skipper Kane Williamson contributing 25.
New Zealand could not have the biggest partnership with an opening stand of 36 runs between Mitchell and Martin Guptill (17). Shaheen Afridi, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez took one wicket each for Pakistan.
Afridi, who shook the Indian top order in Pakistan’s win over India, got swing in the first over which was the first. But Mitchell hit a boundary in his second over which made eight runs. Mitchell then hit Hasan Ali for a six as New Zealand wanted to take the initiative.
But they couldn’t come out of the power play as Rauf smashed Guptill’s sticks as the ball took a deflection from the batsman’s pads.
After hitting a six off Imad in the ninth over, Mitchell dismissed Fakhar Zaman to the ropes. New batsman James Neesham did not last long as he was dismissed for 1 in the next over off Hafeez as New Zealand reached 60 for three at half-point.
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The Kiwis stepped on the gas and scored 25 runs in the 12th and 13th overs with Williamson hitting Hafeez for a six and a boundary, even as Conway hit Shadab Khan for three consecutive boundaries. But after Williamson was run out in the 14th over, the Kiwi innings took a turn as Hasan Ali’s superb direct throw off his own delivery removed the bails.
New Zealand could only reach the 100-run mark at the end of the 15th over and in the 18th over bowled by Rauf, Conway and Glenn Phillips (13) were dismissed within a span of three balls.
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