Mumbai: After four crushing losses, Pakistan had something to smile about at the end of a tough tour as they defended 134 to take the final T20I against New Zealand by 42 runs and keep the series scoreline to 4-1.
Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi at the toss reckoned that on a used Christchurch surface spin was likely to play a role. He was proved right as Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and Usama Mir combined to pick six wickets to bundle New Zealand out for 92, their second-lowest total on home soil.
Batting first, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman got 30s but most of the Pakistan batters suffered on a two-paced track to reach 134 for 8 in their 20 overs. New Zealand started the chase brightly, but the Pakistan spinners orchestrated a middle-overs collapse. Iftikhar led the way with 3 for 24, while Nawaz and Mir picked up frugal two-wicket hauls each as New Zealand were bowled out in 17.2 overs.
New Zealand struggle from the get-go
Finn Allen started the chase brightly, smashing Afridi for a four around deep midwicket and then going one better against Nawaz in the same region. But, Rachin Ravindra, slotted into this game for Daryl Mitchell, failed to get going as he sliced Nawaz to short third for 1.
Allen struck two more crisp fours off Afridi before falling to Zaman Khan, his miscued attempt taken well by debutant Haseebullah Khan diving forward at mid-on. The powerplay ended on 35 for 2.
Pakistan apply the spin choke
Once it got clear that the surface was aiding spin, Afridi went on an all-out spin squeeze. With the required rate climbing, Will Young tried to break the shackles by looking to slog sweep Nawaz. His attempt only reached as far as Iftikhar at deep backward square leg, who completed the catch on the second attempt.
The day went from bad to worse for Mark Chapman. He dropped Babar Azam twice in the first innings, and was run out for 1. This was before Iftikhar ended Tim Seifert’s difficult innings of 19. He went for a reverse sweep to a straight ball, missed and was trapped right in front, with Pakistan’s review confirming the ball would have smashed into the middle pole.
Mir then had Mitchell Santner caught and bowled while Iftikhar removed Matt Henry and Ish Sodhi in the same over as New Zealand collapsed from 53 for 2 to 72 for 8 in the space of 32 balls.
Glenn Phillips tried his best to take New Zealand closer but with eight wickets down, it was a bridge too far even for the man in form. Afridi finished off the game with two wickets in two balls as Pakistan won with 2.4 overs to spare.
A powerplay to forget for Pakistan
Haseebullah Khan had a dream PSL debut season in 2023, where he walloped a 29-ball 50 against Karachi Kings . The same can’t be said about his T20I debut, which lasted all of three balls and ended with him advancing and getting a leading edge on an ungainly swipe to point. Pakistan took 11 balls to get their innings rolling and got their first boundary in the fourth over, courtesy Rizwan, but Babar struggled big time. He could only manage 4 off 15 in the powerplay with Pakistan crawling to 29 for 1 after the six overs.
A brief revival and another middle-order collapse
Sodhi put Babar out of his misery for a 24-ball 13 when he slogged a tossed-up wrong’un straight to Phillips at deep midwicket.
With 53 for 2 after ten, Pakistan needed some impetus to get the innings flowing. That was provided by Fakhar. He laid into Lockie Ferguson, tonking him for two sixes before crashing Sodhi for a four and a six the next over. Southee returned and was taken for another six by Fakhar, but the bowler had the last laugh. The left-handed batter failed to pick a slower offcutter and could only mistime his heave to long-off to fall for a 16-ball 33.
Nawaz came and went before Henry sent Rizwan packing for a run-ball-38, his swing across the line only travelling as far as deep square leg. Iftikhar then clubbed Henry straight to mid-off as Pakistan lost 4 for 16 in 22 balls.
Abbas Afridi came in at No. 9 and hammered two sixes to take Pakistan past the 130-mark. For New Zealand, Southee, Henry, Ferguson and Sodhi managed two wickets apiece.
