Pakistan Continue Winning Way, Beat New Zealand By 5 Wickets

Cricket Image for Pakistan Continue Winning Way, Beat New Zealand By 5 Wickets (Image Source: Twitter)

Experienced Shoaib Malik along with powerful Asif Ali guided Pakistan to a five-wicket win over New Zealand in the 19th match of the T20 World Cup on Tuesday. 

Chasing 135, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan gave a cautious start to the team and added 28 for the first wicket in the first five overs before the Pakistani captain was removed by Tim Southee for 9. 

Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman added another 19 runs but the latter got out after adding just 11 from 17 balls. The middle-order seemed to struggle as Mohammad Hafeez and Imad Wasim also got out quickly to bring New Zealand back into the game. Pakistan were in a spot of bother at the score of 87/5 in 14.5 overs before Malik and Asif joined hands. 

Ali attacked Southee's 16th over in which he hit two sixes to bring the asking rate down. In the next over, Malik smashed a four and a six off Mitchell Santner to get the target within single digits. In the 19th over, the duo finished the game as they added 48 runs in just 23 balls to give Pakistan the second win of the tournament. 

Earlier, New Zealand were asked to bat first and scored 42 runs inside the powerplay and lost the wicket of Martin Guptill. Daryl Mitchell looked threatening during his 27-run while opening but got out in the eighth over. 

Kane Williamson made 25 from 26 balls. None of the batters could break loose from the tight Pakistani bowling. Devon Conway scored 27 from 24 balls to help New Zealand reach 134/8 in the first innings. 

For Pakistan, Haris Rauf picked up four wickets in his four overs while giving away just 22 runs. Shaheen Afridi, Imad Wasim, and Mohammad Hafeez got one wicket each. 

Brief Scorecard:

New Zealand - 134/8 
Pakistan - 135/5 in 18.4 overs