Tri-Series Final: Pakistan Clinches Tri-Series After Defeating New Zealand By Five Wickets

Pakistan beat New Zealand by five wickets and clinched the T20I Tri-Series here at Christchurch.

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NZ vs Pak: Pakistan beat New Zealand by five wickets and clinches the T20I Tri-Series here at Christchurch.

Chasing a low decent total of 163, Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz led the Pakistani side to a convincing win against the home team New Zealand.

Mohammad Rizwan after a sloppy start scored 34 runs in 28 balls but soon out of desperation to play the ball, he got dismissed by Ish Sodhi. Skipper Babar Azam also went into emotions and lofted the ball off Bracewell which sent him to the Pavilion at 15.

Pakistan lost wickets in quick succession and was looking in trouble till the time Nawaz and Haider Ali took charge.

Mohammad Nawaz took responsibility and played till the end of the winning chase. The flamboyant innings of 38 runs in 22 balls from Nawaz included 3 sixes and two fours.

The winning runs came from the bat of Iftikhar Ahmed who scored 25 runs off 14 balls and scorched a winning sixer.

For Pakistan, batter Haider Ali played an important knock in the team's winning cause. He scored a 31 in 15 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes at the time when the Pak team was struggling after a few quick dismissals.

New Zealand bowlers bowled well while defending a low total. All-rounder Michael Bracewell once again proved his importance to the Kiwi team for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Bracewell put down two opponents in the form of Babar Azam and Shan Masood by losing meager 14 runs in four overs.  

Tim Southee, Blair Tickner, and Ish Sodhi also grabbed one wicket each but weren't able to win the game for the Kiwi team.     

Earlier in the match, Pak skipper Babar Azam won the toss and opted to chase in the final. The visitors made one change, bringing in Haris Rauf in place of Mohammad Hasnain.

Whereas, New Zealand backed regular skipper Kane Williamson in place of stalwart Martin Guptill.

While bowling first, the pacers restricted New Zealand to 163/7 in the final match. With absolute bowling efforts from Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf, the team pushed back the home side.

Both the pace bowlers got two wickets each, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz grabbed one-one wicket.

Kiwi batters weren't looking in good composer today as the two in-form openers Davon Conway (14) and Finn Allen (12) loosed their grip early and were sent back to the pavilion during the powerplay.

It was Kane Williamson who played the captain's knock of 59 runs out of 38 balls and anchored the defendable total against Babar Azam's side.

Apart from Williamson, Glenn Philip (29), and Mark Chapman (25) made some runs but couldn't able to convert their innings into a biggy. 

NZ Vs PAK Full Score:

• New Zealand: 163/7 (Williamson- 59 runs in 38 balls; Naseem- 2/38, Rauf- 2/22)
• Pakistan: 168/5 (Nawaz- 38 runs in 22 balls, Bracewell- 2/14)