AUCKLAND: Pakistan beat New Zealand by 48 runs in the 2nd Twenty-20 Interntaional (T20I) of the series in Auckland. Pakistan batted first and put up a mammoth total of 201 for 4. The openers provided a brilliant start and Sarfraz and Babar played two great knocks to capitalise on the excellent start.
It proved an uphill task for the hosts as New Zealand lost early wickets and though the lower-middle order showed some resistance, they were comprehensively defeated in the end as all Pakistani bowlers made it to the scorecard. Faheem Ashraf got 3 wickets. Amir and Shadab took 2 wickets each while Rumman Raees and Hasan Ali also striking once each. Tom Bruce was run out.
New Zealand were all out for 153 in the end. The series is squared now and the final will be played on Sunday. Fakhar Zaman was named Man of the Match for his brilliant 50 runs off just 28 balls. He struck 3 sixes and 5 boundaries during his innings that set the tone for the mountain of a total that just proved too steep for the Kiwis in the end.
Pakistan innings
Pakistan top-order at last fired as the team put up the first tough total for the hosts during the New Zealand tour. After having been whitewashed in the 5-ODI series and then losing the first T20I in an insulting manner, Pakistan batsmen on Thursday came out blazing and put up a 202-run target for the Kiwis.
Fakhar Zaman and Ahmed Shehzad, making his way back into the team after continuous failure of various successive opening pairs, led the charge putting up 57 runs without losing a wicket in the 6 overs of the powerplay.
The opening pair raced to 94 before Shehzad mistimed a stroke to the long-on on the last ball of the 10th over while trying to repeat his stroke from the previous delivery that had gone for the maximum. He scored 44 off 32 balls with the help of 6 boundaries and a six.
Zaman gave in almost immediately. After having completed his fifty just two balls ahead of Shehzad’s departure, Fakhar Zaman also fell prey to a slower delivery from C de Grandhomme on the 3rd delivery of the following over. He scored 50 runs off just 28 balls with the help of 5 boundaries and 3 sixes.
Babar Azam was then joined on the pitch by skipper Sarfraz Ahmed who had promoted himself up the order in order to capitalise on the excellent start that the openers had provided. The pair with the help of 7 boundaries and 4 sixes between them, and some dropped catches, made the maximum out of the strong base made by Zaman and Shehzad opening the innings.
Sarfraz was caught after scoring 49 off Wheeler’s bowling, falling for a slower delivery again, off just 24 balls. Faheem Ashraf was gone the first ball he faced and it seemed for a moment that the visitors might not be able to clear the 200-run mark. However, two boundaries in the last over saw them over the line. Babar Azam pulled the last ball towards the cow corner to take Pakistan to 201 and complete his 50 off just 29 balls.
Faheem Ashraf scored 6 off 4 balls. Wheeler got two wickets while C de Grandhomme and Rance shared a wicket each between them as Pakistan scored 201 for 4, setting a huge total for the visitors to achieve, for the first time on the tour.
New Zealand innings
New Zealand came out to bat feeling a bit nervous. They were finally asked a question by Pakistan. And Munro was the first to budge as he was hit right in front of the wickets and the raised finger by the umpire confirmed that Amir had got his man, again. Though New Zealand already had 25 runs on the board by now, Munro had faced only 2 balls and c oulkd score only 1 run.
Williamson joined Martin Guptill on the pitch but it was a very short stay since he was gone the first ball he faced, caught by Haris Sohail off Rumman Raees’s bowling.
Bruce struck a boundary and a six and looked menacing but was run out by Haris Sohail after scoring 11 runs off 8 balls. Guptill, who had shown resilience up till now, also gave up after scoring 26 runs off 27 balls with the help of just one boundary and one six during his stay. He was caught by Umar Amin off Shadab Khan’s bowling.
Glenn Phillips was the next to go. After adding 5 runs to the Kiwi total, he was caught by Haris Sohail off Faheem Ashraf’s bowling. C de Grandhomme was in some hurry. He hit a boundary off Shadab Khan’s last ball of the 7th over, sent him for a six on the first ball of the 9th over and then came down the wicket on the next one too. But, hey, that one spun away from his bat after pitching, leaving him in the middle of nowhere as Sarfraz removed the bails from the stumps, leaving the hosts 64 for 6.
Then came the stiff resistance from Santner and Wheeler. Together the pair added 54 runs to the total, giving the team an outside chance after the top-order failed miserably to muster up a defence against Pakistan’s fierce pace attack and some wily spin from Shadab Khan.
Wheeler, however, was the first of the two to blink. He was cleaned up Hasan Ali but by the time he left, the score had been taken to 118 and he had hit 2 sixes and 2 boundaries for his 30 runs off just 20 balls.
Santner, however, continued with the struggle as he was joined by Sodhi in the middle. The two at one point looked like a threat to the Pakistani side, who were quite confident a few overs ago of registering the first win on the tour. However, Santner was finally taken out by Pakistan’s lead pace Mohammad Amir in the 18th over. Caught by Sarfraz behind the wickets, Santner had, by the time he departed, had scored 37 runs off 28 balls with the help of 4 boundaries.
With his wicket, the resistance was crushed as Rance couldn’t do much with the bat either after going for 47 runs with the ball in his allotted 4 overs. He got out after scoring 1 run off the 2 balls that he faced.
The next ball was a dot delivery. And the next to that one, Pakistan wrapped up the game as Faheem Ashraf got his 3rd wicket of the innings, removing Sodhi, who was caught by Babar Azam on the short fine-leg.
Pakistan won the match by 48 runs and the series now hangs in balance with both teams having secured one victory each in the first two games. The final will be played on Sunday.