NZ vs PAK 5th T20: After losing the first four matches of the 5-match T20 series on the New Zealand tour, Pakistan finally got the victory. In the last match of the series, the Pakistani team defeated the Kiwis by 42 runs. Batting first on the wicket of Christchurch, Pakistan scored 134 runs losing 8 wickets. In reply, the New Zealand team collapsed for just 92 runs.
The pitch of Hagley Oval in Christchurch turned out to be a complete bowling wicket. There was plenty of help here for both fast bowlers and spinners. This was the reason that despite being restricted to a very low score, the Pakistan team defeated New Zealand.
Hasibullah could not open his account in the debut match
Captain Shaheen Afridi won the toss here and chose to bat first. Hasibullah Khan got a chance to debut but he returned to the pavilion on the third ball of the match without opening his account. Rizwan and Babar gave a strong base to the Pakistan team with the partnership of 53 runs. This partnership was slow. Babar (13) remained on the total of 53 runs only. Fakhar Zaman came and took the responsibility of increasing the run rate. He was out after scoring 33 runs on 16 balls.
This wicket fell at a total of 88 runs and after this the Pakistan team lost wickets one after the other. Opener Mohammad Rizwan was out after scoring 38 runs and lower order Sahibzada Farhan (19) and Abbas Afridi (14) could touch double figures. The remaining players returned to the pavilion cheaply. In this way, Pakistan team scored 134 runs after losing 8 wickets in 20 overs. Here Southee, Henry, Ferguson and Sodhi all got 2-2 wickets.
New Zealand's batting order disintegrated
While chasing a small target, New Zealand also kept losing wickets from the beginning. Openers Rachin Ravindra (1) and Finn Allen (22) returned to the pavilion within the total of 30 runs. When Tim Seifert (19) was out on the score of 53 runs, a flurry of wickets followed. Apart from Will Young (12) and Glenn Phillips (26), no other batsman could reach double figures and the entire Kiwi team was reduced to 92 runs in 17.2 overs.
Iftikhar Ahmed took 3 wickets for Pakistan. Shaheen Afrid and Mohammad Nawaz got 2-2 wickets and Osama Mir-Zaman Khan got 1-1 wicket. Iftikhar was the 'Player of the Match' here. Whereas, Finn Allen was selected for 'Player of the Series'. He scored 275 runs in this 5-match series.
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