Devon Conway doesn’t always fail to hit the mark but got out. But Pakistan did well to contain Finn Allen after he hit three boundaries and was bowled out in the first over. However, New Zealand will be pleased that their captain, Kane Williamson, got things rolling right away. After facing Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah, Williamson quickly reached 16 off 5 when Conway inside-edged one onto his stumps.
Although Phillips and Mark Chapman made noteworthy contributions, Williamson’s classy fifty stole the stage scoring 59 off just 38 deliveries. The captain struck a six to quickly reach fifty as New Zealand appeared to be approaching 190. A turning point was reached when Williamson was dismissed in the 16th over, and everything changed from then.
Jimmy Neesham immediately returned to the pavilion scoring just 17 runs after Chapman was removed as Pakistan pushed the hosts back. However, New Zealand only managed to reach 163 for 7 in their 20 overs. To begin the pursuit, they each hit a boundary in each of the first two overs, but after that, they slowed pace.
Again, it was Michael Bracewell’s powerplay start that did the most damage as he only gave up two runs in his first over before dismissing Babar Azam. No boundaries were hit in the remaining three overs of the powerplay, and Pakistan scored 33 in the allotted six overs. Before removing the restrictions and establishing certain crucial boundaries, Shan Masood experienced a challenging time as well.
At the halfway point, Pakistan only had scored 64 runs on the board and needed 100 in the last 10 overs. Bracewell then scored in his final over to dismiss Masood. Mohammad Nawaz was promoted again after making an unbeaten 45 against Bangladesh the day before. Paying it back the management’s trust in him, he came to the rescue once more. At the opposite end, Haider Ali struck a six off his second delivery to restart the engine.
When Pakistan required 67 runs from the last six overs, Haider scored 25 runs with a four and a six, then Nawaz followed with back-to-back sixes to change the tide of the match. After that over, Pakistan took the lead after scoring 33 runs in only eight balls at one point, and Haider kept hitting consecutive home runs off Tim Southee. Pakistan could take heart from Ftikhar’s 14 balls 25 runs, which featured a six in the final over to secure the victory.
Brief Scorecard : New Zealand 163/7 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 59, Glenn Phillips 29, Haris Rauf 2/22) lost to Pakistan 168/5 in 19.3 overs (Mohammad Nawaz 38*, Mohammad Rizwan 34, Michael Bracewell 2/14) by 5 wickets.
image credit : crictracker
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