RAWALPINDI: A combined bowling effort by Pakistan bowlers, followed by Mohammad Rizwan’s composed innings crushed New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20I of the five-match series here at Pindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Chasing a meagre 91-run target, Pakistan successfully chased the total in 12.1 overs when Rizwan hit Cole McConchie for a boundary over square leg.
The hosts had a turbulent start to the modest target as Saim Ayub fell on the second ball of the innings after scoring a boundary off the first one.
Rizwan joined Pakistan captain Babar Azam and together they stitched a 37-run stand for the second wicket to put the home team in the driving seat.
However, New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell halted Pakistan’s progress as he removed his counterpart, who was playing at 14.
Ish Sodhi struck Usman Khan with a wrong’un, bringing Irfan Khan out to join Rizwan in the middle.
Together they knitted an unbeaten 36-run stand to guide Pakistan to the thumping victory with 47 balls to spare.
Rizwan top-scored with an unbeaten 45 off 34, featuring four boundaries and one six, while Khan scored run-a-ball 18 with two boundaries, including one six.
Earlier, put into bat first, the inexperienced New Zealand side had a disastrous start to their innings as Shaheen Shah Afridi removed Tim Seifert (12) in the third over with just 16 runs on the board.
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The touring side then lost another wicket in the next over when returning pacer Mohammad Amir outclassed Tim Robinson (4) with a slower delivery.
He struck again in the next over, dismissing Dean Foxcroft and New Zealand, as a result, slipped to 35/5 inside the batting powerplay.
After a ruthless from the pacers, spinners Abrar Ahmed and Shadab Khan added further to the misery of the BlackCaps by striking frequently.
The spin duo shared four wickets between them, reducing New Zealand to 79/8 in 16 overs.
Pacers Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi then swept New Zealand’s tail with a wicket apiece and wrapped up a commanding outing with the ball for the home side.
Chapman finished as the highest run-getter for New Zealand, followed by Cole McConchie (15) and Foxcroft (13) while seven of their batters failed to make it into the double figures.
Shaheen led the bowling attack for Pakistan with three wickets, followed by Amir, Shadab and Abrar, who picked two wickets each.
Naseem Shah, on the other hand, made one scalp.
PLAYING XIs
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Abrar Ahmed.
New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (c), Mark Chapman, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, James Neesham, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert (wk), Ish Sodhi
HEAD TO HEAD
Matches 40, Pakistan 21, New Zealand 17, NR 2