Black Caps shake off rust and have no reason to be intimidated in T20I
A bunch of globe-trotting T20 specialists in the Black Caps couldn’t stop the Pakistan juggernaut in the first T20 intrnational, but they have convinced the top-ranked side that they have an equal footing in the series.
New Zealand have already shown the hosts that this series is unlikely to be similar to the one against Australia. This, despite the fact that the New Zealand side has been reunited after a seven-month international cricket hiatus. Pakistan know that their winning streak is under threat, even as they eye their 11th successive series win in the shortest format.
The result didn’t particularly seem to disappoint visiting captain Kane Williamson, who was all smiles at the post-match presentation. His team had given him little reason to criticise them. His pacers troubled the batsmen, and spinners Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi, despite limited experience in these conditions, were as impressive as their Pakistan counterparts. His fielders were electrifying; they took three brilliant catches and inflicted a run-out on the day. The batsmen showed signs of struggle only in the middle overs, where they lost three wickets for 10 runs, but a brief period of recovery followed.
This morning, he would be hoping to win the toss and put up a testing total, now that he knows what ails Pakistan.
And Pakistan’s batting fell apart again. In the three T20Is against Australia, they depended on Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez to do the bulk of scoring and later hoped their bowlers would finish the job. They found themselves in a similar situation in game one. With Babar’s failure, it was Hafeez who came to the rescue.
Pakistan do have one of the best bowling units in the world, and it was on full display when their youngest player with just nine international games, showed oodles of discipline while bowling to two T20 veterans with a combined 134 games of T20I experience. Shaheen Afridi didn’t break a sweat while he was trying to defend 16 runs off the last over, letting neither Ross Taylor nor Tim Southee go big.
The in-form Mohammad Hafeez had yet another great outing in game one. He led Pakistan’s recovery and made a 36-ball 45 after the openers fell early.
Adam Milne was the pick of New Zealand bowlers. He struck in his very first over to dismiss the topranked T20I batsman Azam and then came back in the 12th over to send Hafeez back, with the short ball doing the trick both times. If he puts in a similar performance in the second T20I, he will increase New Zealand’s chances of levelling the series.