New Zealand defeated Pakistan by seven wickets in the fourth match of the five T20I series.
New Zealand chased down the target of 159 runs in 19 overs thanks to the excellent batting of Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips. Both remained not out with 72 and 70 runs respectively. Shaheen Shah Afridi took three wickets for Pakistan.
New Zealand had already won the series by winning three consecutive matches. Pakistan has faced a fourth consecutive defeat. Now the last match of the series will be played on January 21 in Christchurch.
New Zealand won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first in Christchurch on Friday. Green Shirts scored 158 runs for losing five wickets in 20 overs thanks to Muhammad Rizwan’s 90 not out. Apart from Rizwan, Mohammad Nawaz scored 21 runs and Babar Azam scored 19. Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson took two wickets each for New Zealand.
New Zealand’s innings
Chasing 159 runs, New Zealand’s openers came into the field and in-form batsman Finn Allen made his intentions clear by hitting two fours off Shaheen Shah Afridi’s four balls in the first over. But on the other hand, Shaheen forgot all the pressure including captaincy, loss, and good performance, and announced his return to the field by taking two wickets from the Kiwis in the next two balls.
Shaheen did not stop there, but in his next over, he sent Will Young to the pavilion as well. He scored only four runs.
At this point it looked as if the goddess of victory might be kind to Pakistan, but then came poor bowling and fielding from Darryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips along with that hope.
Apart from Shaheen, none of the bowlers caused trouble for the Black Caps batsmen, but the drop catches left the deficit.
Glenn Phillips scored 70 runs off 52 balls with the help of five fours and three sixes.
Mitchell and Phillips put on a partnership of 141 runs. Daryl Mitchell remained unbeaten on 72 off 44 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes, while Glenn Phillips scored 70 off 52 balls with the help of five fours and three sixes and remained not out.
Pakistan’s innings
Pakistan’s experiment in replacing Babar Azam with Saeem Ayub in the T20s failed again, and Saeem was caught by Matt Henry in the second over and left for the pavilion.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who came one down, did not take pressure after the initial loss and adopted an aggressive style, but Babar could not stay on the wicket for long and was caught at the boundary on a short-pitched ball from Adam Milne. He scored 19 runs.
Mohammad Rizwan scored 90 runs not out in 63 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes.
Pakistan’s third out was Fakhar Zaman. He scored nine runs off 15 balls and was caught on the boundary off Lockie Ferguson while trying to hit.
Ferguson also dismissed Sahibzada Farhan, who had joined the team in place of Azam Khan, in his same over.
Iftikhar Ahmed failed once again and was caught out by Henry after scoring just 10 runs.
On one side, Pakistan’s wickets were falling, but on the other side, Mohammad Rizwan stood on the wicket till the end. He scored 90 not out in 63 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. Thanks to his innings, Pakistan could make a defendable total.
Matt Henry and Lockie Ferguson took two wickets each for New Zealand.
Mohammad Nawaz also batted well and remained not out by scoring 21 runs off nine balls with the help of three sixes.
