SHARJAH: Asif Ali’s power-hitting and Shoaib Malik’s patience helped Pakistan to beat New Zealand by 5 wickets in a low-scoring thriller at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Chasing a moderate target of 135 runs, Babar and Rizwan carefully started Pakistan’s innings. However, the Pakistani skipper was bowled out by Tim Southee, as New Zealand drawing first blood.
Fakhar Zaman, after scoring a six, was trapped lbw. Hafeez showed some promise, hitting a six as well a few overs later. However, he was dismissed off a superb catch from Conway off Santner’s delivery.
A few deliveries later, Sodhi struck again for New Zealand, trapping Rizwan lbw. The hero of the chase against India only scored 33 off 34 balls.
Trent Boult bagged a vital wicket of Imad Wasim (11) to create further trouble for Pakistan but hard-hitter Asif Ali had other plans. The right-hander smacked two back-to-back sixes off Southee’s 17th over to hand Pakistan an upper hand.
Veteran Shoaib Malik followed with a six and a four off in the next over to ease down the pressure. Asif finished the match in the 19th over as both the batters ran two. Asif remained unbeaten at 12-ball 27 while Malik scored 26 in 20 balls.
Earlier, a Pakistani bowling onslaught led by right-arm pacer Haris Rauf kept New Zealand at bay, as the Black Caps handed Pakistan a mediocre target of 135 runs Tuesday.
New Zealand started their innings against Pakistan cautiously, but ended up losing four wickets to Pakistan before hitting three figures. Martin Guptill, Daryll Mitchell and Jimmy Neesham headed to the pavilion after being dismissed by Haris Rauf, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez respectively.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and left-hander David Conway tried to recover but brilliant work from Hasan Ali on his follow-through ran Williamson out to create further havoc. Williamson scored a 26-ball 25.
Haris was all over New Zealand at the backend as he struck twice to remove Conway (27) and Glenn Phillips (13) in the 18th over while he castled Mitchell Santner on the final ball off the innings. He finished with figures of 4/22 while Shaheen Shah bagged one wicket for 21 in his four-over spell.
Pakistan will play Afghanistan on October 29 at Dubai International Stadium.
Playing XI:
Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam (capt.) 2 Mohammad Rizwan (wk) 3 Fakhar Zaman 4 Mohammad Hafeez 5 Shoaib Malik 6 Asif Ali 7 Shadab Khan 8 Imad Wasim 9 Hasan Ali 10 Haris Rauf 11 Shaheen Shah Afridi.
New Zealand: 1 Martin Guptill 2 Devon Conway 3 Glenn Phillips 4 Kane Williamson (capt.), 5 Tim Seifert (wk) 6 Daryl Mitchell, 7 James Neesham, 7 Mitchell Santner 9 Tim Southee 10 Trent Boult, 11 Ish Sodhi.
