Lahore (Newsdesk) Thanks to Tim Robinson’s half-century and the excellent performance of the bowlers, New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 4 points after a tense match and took the series 1:2 unbeaten.
In the fourth T20 match of the series played in Lahore, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first.
New Zealand started the innings in a positive manner and scored 56 runs in 5 overs with aggressive batting but in the same score Zaman Khan walked Tam Blundell who scored 28 runs from 15 balls.
From the other side, Tim Robinson played the best game and showed aggressive batting to complete his half-century in just 35 balls.
New Zealand scored 93 runs in 10 runs, but in the 11th over, Abbas Afridi ended Robinson’s innings of 51 runs with two sixes and four fours.
With the score reaching 128, Iftikhar Ahmed sent Mark Chapman back to the pavilion to give the team a big win, while Dan Foxcroft also took a wicket to Osama Mir after scoring 34 runs.
Michael Bracewell and James Neesham took the score to 169 but Abbas Afridi finished Josh Clarkson off the very next ball after Kiwi skipper Bracewell’s 27.
On the last ball of the innings, Amir ended Ash Sodhi’s innings as New Zealand scored 178 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs.
Chasing the target, Pakistan suffered a huge loss early in the innings and in the second over, captain Babar Azam returned to the pavilion after scoring just five runs.
Saeem Ayub again failed to play a big innings and departed after scoring 20 runs for a total of 40 while Usman could only score 16 runs.
After the fall of three wickets for 46 runs, Shadab Khan came in to support Fakhar Zaman and the two put on 79 together but Shadab, who scored 8 runs, became the wicket of Bracewell.
From the other end, Fakhar continued his excellent play and put on a 59-run partnership with Iftikhar to take the score to 138.
At this point, the match seemed to be in Pakistan’s grip, but after Iftikhar, who scored 23 runs, Fakhar, who played an innings of 61 runs, was dismissed one after the other and the dice of the match turned in New Zealand’s favour. In the final overs, Imad Wasim scored 22 runs off 11 balls and tried to bring the team to the brink of victory, but his efforts also went in vain.
Pakistan team scored 174 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in allotted overs and New Zealand won the match by 4 runs.
Earlier, Pakistan made five changes to the final eleven for the match and rested Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan Niazi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abrar Ahmed and Naseem Shah.
Fakhar Zaman, Usama Mir, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir and Zaman Khan were included in the final XI in their place.
Pakistan’s squad for the match consisted of these players.
Babar Azam (captain), Saeem Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Usama Mir, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi and Zaman Khan.
