The Black Caps were convincingly beaten by the Men in Green, who produced yet another good T20WC performance to seal their qualification into the semi-finals, with relatively easier fixtures going forward in the tournament after beating India on Sunday.
Haris Rauf’s sensational four-wicket spell was the undoing of the Kiwis as they failed to put up a substantial score on the board, which was later chased down by the Pakistan batsmen, in what was ultimately an easy chase.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and decided to put the Kiwis into bat. New Zealand got off to a decent start, scoring 36 runs in the first five overs before paceman Haris Rauf cleaned up Martin Guptill, who didn’t look at his best during his time in the middle. This brought captain Kane Williamson into the crease.
However, the Kiwi batsmen weren’t able to stabilise the innings at all, as they lost wickets frequently, much to the credit of the Pakistan bowlers. Rauf was magnificent with the ball, picking up four crucial wickets while just conceding 22 runs. Shaheen Afridi and Imad Wasim also came good, as they bowled economical spells.
NZ’s batting struggles meant that they could only post a modest 134 on the scoreboard, which looked quite gettable on the Sharjah track. It would have required a very special bowling performance from the Kiwis to steal the game away from the New Zealanders.
Pakistan lost their opener, Babar Azam, for just nine runs after he was deceived by a slower delivery by Tim Southee kept low. However, Mohammed Rizwan was steady at the other end, happy to keep rotating strike. Meanwhile, the Kiwis got rid of Fakhar Zaman in the last ball of the ninth over.
New Zealand also attempted to pull things back and make the game interesting as their attacking bowling in the eleventh over got the better of an old warhorse, Mohammed Hafeez. The pressure turned out to be too much to handle for young Rizwan who also lost his wicket in the following over.
Veteran Shoaib Malik was into the middle by the time of this mini-collapse, and at the end, was accompanied by Imad Wasim. The two batsmen did well to bring the game back, with Malik’s vast experience coming in really handy. However, Wasim was dismissed in the 15th over with 46 runs to get in 30 balls.
What seemed like a great, complicated task was hugely simplified by the new man in, Asif Ali. Ali played a whirlwind innings of 27 in 12 balls, including three huge sixes, as Pakistan won their second game on the trot, almost making their presence in the semi-final stages a mere formality, as they beat both strong competitors, India and Pakistan.
Pakistan will look to keep this form running as they face Afghanistan on Friday at the Dubai Internatonal System.
Brief scores
New Zealand 134/8 in 20 overs (Mitchell 27, Rauf 4/22, Hafeez 1/16) lost to Pakistan 135/5 in 18.4 overs (Rizwan 33, Asif 27*, Sodhi 2/28)
