Pakistan winning the toss and opting to bowl first on a batter friendly backyard home pitch in Karachi will remain a mystery as the former champions are now on the catch-up trail in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Will Young has stamped his place as the opener for New Zealand with his debut century outside his home soil in Pakistan, whilst Tom Latham who has three ducks in his previous outings against Pakistan, saved his best for the all important game by proving his pedigree with a match winning unbeaten 118 his 8th century in this format. What an achievement to state the least!
New Zealand skipper Mitchell Statner gleefully accepted the opportunity to bat first after Mohd Rizwan, the Pakistani skipper, with a negative mindset, decided to bowl first after winning the toss.
Shaheen Sha Afridi and his fellow seamer Naseem Shah had the Kiwi batters in check when they dismissed Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, and Darryl Mitchell with the black caps struggling on 73 for 3 wickets.
Darryl Mitchell, at number four, raised a few eyebrows as he looked uncomfortable against the quality seam attack of Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf.
Will Young the replacement opener for injured Rachin Ravindra proved to the Kiwi selectors that he belonged to the park and not the bench.
The right-hand left-hand combination of both Tom Latham and Will Young made the shoulders of the home team drop as they stiched a 118-run partnership for the 4th wicket.
The partnership was a great exhibition of how to keep it simple by doing the basics right when batting on a flat track, rotation of strike , and running well between the wickets to picking the gaps , playing through the line , slog sweeping, conventional sweeps to reverse sweeps made perfect in their execution of exquisite stroke play.
Pakistan spinners tried to control the run flow, but the pitch did not respond.
Akbar Ahmad looked impressive with his 1 for 47 but lacked support from the other end.
Glen Phillips joined Tom Latham at the end of a fantastic 107 compiled by Will Young, and things got worse for Pakistan as New Zealand was on a role as Tom Lathem and Glenn Philips made merry by a hapless Pakistan bowling attack to score 113 runs in the last ten overs , with Latham unbeaten on 118 and Glenn Philips 61 in 39 deliveries stiching a partnership of 125 runs for the 5th wicket and exposing Pakistan bowling in their own backyard as ordinary to a great extent.
Afridi leaked 68 runs and ended wicketless. Rauf 83 runs with 2 scalps, whilst Naseem Shah 63 runs with 2 scalps.
Two centurions, namely Will Young 107 , Tom Lathem unbeaten 118, with a brisk half centurian in Glenn Philips 61 in 39 balls paints the pitchure in rainbow colours of how New Zealand dominated in scoring 320 for 5 wickets after tottering on 48 runs for 3 wickets in the power play overs.
321 as a target for any team is herculean to state the least. Mohaned Rizwan batting at number 3 did not help the cause. Pakistan was having a parade from the hutch to the centre reeling on 153 for 6 wickets at one stage.
Babar Azzam can’t change water into wine. Can he?
He made 64, but the scoreboard preassure was restricting his natural ability , including the parade of his top and middle order players to a great extent.
Kushdi Shah made a late burst by scoring a flashy 69 that had the home team supporters waving their flags with Agaha Salman a conservatory 42 , but what happened to the rest is a worry going forward as Pakistan bowled out for 260 , and being completely dominated and outplayed by New Zealand as they suffered their 4th defeat on the trott to the men from the land of the white clouds who have played a lot of cricket in Pakistan since 2022.
New Zealand batters are excellent against the spin threat on subcontinent wickets.
William O ‘ brouck 3 for 49 did the early damage whilst Mitchell Santner, the consistent wicket taking spinner 3 for 66 by giving New Zealand the well-deserved win that too comprehensively.
