The Mohamed Rizwan led Pakistani 50 over side winning the toss at McLean Park in Napier and inviting New Zealand to bat first tasted a sugar-coated pill upfront as the home team struggled against Akif Javed and his fellow seamer Naseem Shah as hosts struggled on 50 runs for 3 wickets with Will Young, Nick Kelly and Henry Nicholas, the trio were sent packing to the dressing room by the visitors early dose of excellent seam attack
Sadly, for Pakistan, the on field celebrations for the visitors lasted thus far only as Mark Chapman and Darryl Mitchell built a 199 run partnership for the 4th wicket by dispatching a hapless Pakistan bowling attack to go fetch the ball carnage of a batting display with Chapman thumping 132 in 111 balls with a strike rate of 118.62 with 13 boundaries and six sixes whilst a somber Darryl Mitchell stuck 76 runs in 84 deliveries with 4 hits to the ropes and 6 sixes over the ropes to change the complex of the game in the lung opener.
Mitchell was dismissed with New Zealand on 249, followed by Mark Chapman with Black caps total on 280.
Mohamed Abbas joins the party to ensure the home team reaches a formidable total of 344 for 9 wickets in a cameo display of 52 runs off just 26 balls, a strike rate of 200 with a T 20 type of onslaught with 3 maximums and equal amount of boundaries in his brief stay at the wickets.
Harris Rauf was impressive with 2 wickets for 36, Akif Javed 2 for 55, and Naseem Shah 1 for 60 are talented seam bowlers but barring Harris Rauf, Javed and Shah seemed easy pickings for the Black Caps batters after the pairs initial overs with the new ball.
Irfan Khan Niazi took 3 for 51 in 5 overs, but the runs he leaked were far too many.
Pakistan needs 345 to win. The task is no walk in the park for sure given their recent performance in their batting cordon.
Openers Abdullah Shafiq and Usman Khan looked promising when they stitched an opening stand of 83 runs, but the loss of Shafiq with the score on 88 basically a back to back dismissal of the openers dented the Pakistani run chase.
Babar Azam, the right-hander now pakistan’s main stay impressed with 78, followed by skipper Mohd Rizwan 30 and the talented Agar Salman 58 . It’s fair to state that Pakistan looked in the hunt till these three were at the wickets, but periodic dismissals of the three Pakistani premier batters exposed the middle order batters who were simply rolled over by Nathen Smith who took 4 for 60 and helped his country win by a huge margin of 73 runs as Pakistan was bowled out for 271 runs in 44. 1 overs gifting the home team with 35 unbowled deliveries.