Upbeat Pakistan wary of New Zealand fightback
abu dhabi — Pakistan got out of jail in their T20 series opener against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi but things could be different as the two teams clash in Dubai on Friday.
On Wednesday night at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Pakistanis were in a spot but got bailed out by bowlers. The two-run win was testimony to the preparation and homework done by New Zealanders.
Mohammad Hafeez, man of the match for his 36-ball 45 runs and conceding mere 13 runs from three overs, acknowledged that the visitors had put a spirited fight.
“New Zealand are a great side. They always come up with great ideas. They always bring something new to you. And we saw how excellent they are as fielding side. They took some brilliant catches and bowled well,” Hafeez said.
He said Pakistanis are on a roll and the boys were keen to keep the winning momentum going.
“As a team we are playing in a good mould. We are on a winning streak and this momentum has helped a lot. I still believe it will be a tough series for us because we need to work really hard to beat New Zealand in all areas of the game.”
Pakistan had scored 148 for 6 and wickets at the end from Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi, and in the middle through Imad Wasim and Shadab Khan helped them survive a scare. And Hafeez said the mindset of the youngsters was very positive to handle such situations.
“See whichever team and set of players I have shared the dressing room with; all had just one aim – to win for Pakistan. However, this is a young side with good energy level and they want to handle pressure on their own. They don’t run away from pressure situations but want to face and beat it. But there is scope for improvement. The more such situations the boys face, the better they will become to win matches.”
On the second match of the series, Hafeez said: “We believe that Dubai wicket will assist spinners. But as a bowling unit our confidence is very high. We have defended for fourth match now.”
It was New Zealand opener Colin Munro who threatened to win the match single-handedly until he was out after a 42-ball 58 runs.
Munro said loss of his wicket and skipper Kane Williamson was the turning point of the match.
“I lost my wicket and then Kane got out, it went bang-bang and their spinners came on after the power play and squeezed. You need to give credit to them. They know these conditions really well and it suited them. We got outplayed, just I reckon. It was an even game. We didn’t really lose our way anywhere but they just bowled really well and we couldn’t capitalise through the middle.”
Munro said there were lots of positives to take from the match. And New Zealand, he said, will go all out to level the series in a mustwin match.
“We bowled well at the start and middle, and our fielding was outstanding. That’s the benchmark we got to set in international cricket. We can’t be looking down and we’ve got plenty of positives to build on ahead of the next game.”