Unlucky 13: Pakistan end
Superb team effort sees tourists halt Black Caps winning run to keep alive T20 series
Pakistan delivered a display befitting the talent in their squad as they eased to a 48-run win over New Zealand and squared the T20 series 1-1 at Eden Park last night.
The result ended the Black Caps’ run of 13 consecutive victories across completed matches in all formats.
Gone was the visitors’ trepidation seen across both limited overs series; back was the licence to flay with the bat and hunt with the ball.
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur pleaded for his charges “not to fear anything and play with freedom” after the final one-day international in Wellington.
After a few days’ osmosis, the advice soaked through as the tourists piled on 201 for four before dismissing the hosts for 153 in 18.3 overs.
Pakistan’s myriad Auckland-based fans danced in the stands and the players boogied on the pitch, courtesy of a record T20 international opening stand of 94 at the ground between Ahmed Shehzad (44 from 34 balls) and Fakhar Zaman (50 off 28).
The pair were vying to be John Travolta, and this was Thursday Night Fever.
Classic stroke-making and bighitting merged as they seared balls to the fence.
“We were planning in the last three or four matches to play normally in the powerplay and not lose too many wickets. [Last night], we were successful,” Fakhar said.
“Pakistan put us under pressure and, if I’m honest, we probably bowled a few bad balls that they pounced on,” New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said.
“A total like that, you have to come out and play with some risk to chase. It can be tough to get momentum. Often the big shots generate you a strike rate on this ground rather than touch, because the ball can plug at times.”
The New Zealand bowlers and fieldsmen will have been shaken out of any form of complacency, if it existed, ahead of the T20 tri-series against Australia and England. Now they have a decider to play at Mt Maunganui on Sunday.
There was no respite as Shehzad and Fakhar exited within four balls bridging the 10th and 11th overs.
Babar Azam (50 runs off 29 balls) and captain Sarfraz Ahmed (41 off 24 balls) kept hammering the Black Caps into a cricketing hurt locker.
Eden Park can often flatter to deceive for teams when the boundaries appear like a mirage on the horizon. Not so for the Pakistanis; the total was the third highest in 14 T20Is at the ground as they thumped 21 fours and eight sixes.
Williamson juggled his bowlers as he grappled with the dimensions. He sought an answer to a problem which was looking like a Rubik’s Cube where someone had switched a couple of stickers.
Every time the New Zealanders attempted to frame a plan, Pakistan found a gap. Runs came like sheep jumping through a broken hinterland fence.
But this was suburban Auckland and each of the New Zealand bowlers, except Ish Sodhi, went for more than eight runs per over.
It was a nightmare no bowler wants to imagine, two days before the Indian Premier League auction.
Rance bowled the second (12 runs), fifth (14 runs), 10th (one wicket and eight runs) and 18th overs (13 runs, including three wides as he pushed up his yorkers under pressure).
Santner went for 22 in his opening over, including three sixes, as Fakhar used his feet confidently against the consistency of the pitch.
The left-arm orthodox spinner was required for only two overs, conceding 30; Colin de Grandhomme completed his allotment.
The crowd — and any IPL scouts — did see Sodhi excel at times. His first three overs cost 14 runs as an island of parsimony in a sea of runs. However, Babar and Sarfraz had his measure by the 17th over — he went for 18.
Pakistan never relinquished their grip. New Zealand’s batting crumbled under a jigsaw of tight bowling partnerships. However, the highlight was their fielding. Examples included two catches and a one-stump run out from Haris Sohail at mid-wicket, a stumping from Sarfraz to remove de Grandhomme and a dropped catch which saved a six from replacement fielder Mohammad Nawaz as Santner attempted to drive over long-on.
Santner and Ben Wheeler offered