New Zealand Take Victory in Series Opener

New Zealand has taken a 47-run victory in the opening T20I with a quality performance with the bat backed up by some good bowling.

New Zealand got off to a woeful start with Devon Conway falling for a golden duck as Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up the first wicket.

Finn Allen then showed his electric nature as he took 24 runs from Afridi’s second over to propel the Blackcaps to 30 runs from the first three overs.

Aamir Jamal did ball Allen for 33 but it was a no-ball so Allen got a massive let-off.

Allen then went in the following over with Jamal taking the catch and Abbas Afridi getting his first T20I wicket with Allen falling for 34.

Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell then went about the business of showing their talent with a mammoth 78-run stand for the third wicket in just under eight overs.

Williamson made his 50 from 40 balls with the knock including eight fours.

He did however find himself walking back to the shed for a well-made 57 from 42 with Abbas getting his second wicket of the day.

Glenn Phillips tried to show his aggressive nature but fell for 19 from 11.

With Mitchell smashing the ball all around the ground he soon raced to 50 from just 22 balls to take his side past the 180-run mark when he was out with just under four overs to go.

Mitchell was caught in the deep by Saim Ayub for 61 from 27 with Shaheen Afridi getting his second wicket of the day.

Mark Chapman was able to play with some freedom as he struck a lower-order cameo of 26 from 11, with Harris Rauf getting the wicket.

Adam Milne made 10 but fell to Shaheen Afridi and Ish Sodhi was bowled by Rauf first ball.

Tim Southee hit six from the last ball to take New Zealand to 226/8 from their 20 overs with Southee finishing on 6* and Henry didn’t face a ball.

Ayub was able to get Pakistan off to an amazing start with the bat with 29 runs being made in the first two overs. Southee was sent for 12 from the first over and then Henry for 17.

New Zealand did have a couple of catching chances early with Williamson and Henry nearly taking catches. 

Milne however was able to provide the crucial run out of Ayub for 27 from eight.

With Rizwan building a healthy partnership alongside Babar Azam to get Pakistan past the 60-run mark in just five overs, they would need a breakthrough soon.

Southee did this as he took the big wicket of Rizwan for 25 from 14.

Sodhi then took his first wicket of the day with an incredible catch off his bowling to get Fakhar Zaman for 15 from 10.

Pakistan was scoring at around 9-10 runs per over and Pakistan was looking like they could soon take the game away from Aotearoa until Southee struck to get Iftikhar Ahmed for 24 from 17 with Sodhi taking a good catch.

With the run rate climbing, Pakistan took 11 runs from Milne’s third over and then got 13 from Sears’ over to take Pakistan to 159/4 with five overs left.

Milne then took two wickets in the sixteenth over as Azam Khan (10) and Shaheen Shah Afridi (0) both departed. He did have the chance also to get Jamal but the ball just fell short of Henry.

Sears then took the massive wicket of Babar Azam for 57 from 35 and then also had Usama Mir for one.

The wickets kept coming for New Zealand with Tim Southee getting his third wicket of the day which resulted in his 150 T20I wicket with Abbas falling for one.

Southee then wrapped it up two balls later with Rauf going for a duck and Chapman with the catch.

New Zealand took victory by 46 runs.