Bracewell praises Black Caps for bouncing back
Black Caps captain Michael Bracewell praised his players for the way they learned from a shellacking just a day earlier to level their Twenty20 series against Pakistan in dominant fashion yesterday.
Just 24 hours after being bowled out for 90 to lose by seven wickets, a heavily depleted Black Caps side chased down their target of 179 runs with 10 balls remaining to win by seven wickets at the same Rawalpindi venue.
“Really happy with the way guys put the learnings from [the previous] night,” Bracewell said. “The way Ish [Sodhi] bowled in the middle [overs] was outstanding and the partnership between Foxy [Dean Foxcroft] and Chapman was outstanding.”
That chase was anchored by an unbeaten 87 off 42 balls from Chapman, who arrived at the crease at 53-2 and added a 117-run partnership with Foxcroft (31 off 29) to all but get the Black Caps home.
Chapman was dropped three times, including by makeshift wicketkeeper Usman Khan, filling in for Mohammad Rizwan, who injured a hamstring midway through the Pakistan innings batting at No 3.
“Maybe we were 10 runs short,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said. “We started well with the ball in the first six overs, but when you drop a set batter’s catch, then he will take away the game from you. Chapman has always done well against us.”
Chapman scored a T20 career-best unbeaten 104 at the same Pindi Cricket Stadium last year and was man of the series when New Zealand drew 2-2.
New Zealand’s win yesterday was made all the more impressive by the fact the already-weakened squad was depleted even further, as neither Ben Lister nor Josh Clarkson travelled to the ground after being struck by illness.
Bracewell won the toss and opted to field but may have been forgiven for ruing his decision, as Pakistan made 178-4 from their 20 overs.
While no Pakistan batter passed 50, partnerships of 55 between openers Babar (37 off 29) and Saim Ayub (32 off 22), and 62 between Shadab Khan (41 off 20) and Irfan Khan (30 not out off 20) made up the bulk of the total.
Sodhi was the pick of the Kiwi bowlers, and took 2-25 from his four overs, as the rest of New Zealand’s attack struggled to contain Pakistan. Zak Foulkes and Will O’Rourke both went wicketless in their first taste of T20 international cricket.
In reply, New Zealand’s openers got off to their best start of the series, as Tim Seifert (21 off 16) and Tim Robinson (28 off 19) added 42 for the first wicket.
Once they fell, though, Chapman and Foxcroft took over. In 42 balls, the pair added a 50 stand, but needed just 17 more to raise their century partnership as Chapman took over. The left-hander plundered nine fours and four sixes in his innings, and reached his seventh T20 international fifty in the process.
Once Foxcroft went, though, caught and bowled by Abbas Afridi, New Zealand needed just nine runs from more than three overs.
And after Jimmy Neesham found the rope with the final ball of the 18th over, Chapman sealed the win at the start of the 19th, and at the very least ensured the new-look Black Caps won’t leave Pakistan empty-handed.
The series relocates from Rawalpindi to Lahore for games four and five on Friday and Sunday.
The series is level at 1-1 after game one was washed out after just two deliveries.