Pakistan registered an emphatic victory over New Zealand in the final of the tri-series at Christchurch. The Men in Green were sensational throughout, both with the bat and the ball, as they registered a 5-wicket win.
The Green Shirts got a strong grip on the match early on as they dismissed Finn Allen cheaply. New Zealand fought back brilliantly as captain Kane Williamson scored a scintillating half-century and Glenn Phillips and Mark Chapman scored wonderful cameos.
The Pakistani bowling unit pulled back the innings once again as the fast bowlers closed out the innings in the last five overs, conceding only 33 runs and picking up 4 wickets to restrict New Zealand to 163/7.
New Zealand tightened the screws early on in Pakistan’s innings as they dismissed captain Babar Azam cheaply. Mohammad Rizwan continued his fine run of form as he held the innings together with 34 runs off 29 balls before being dismissed by Ish Sodhi. With the required run rate increasing steadily, Mohammad Nawaz and Haider Ali brought back Pakistan into the game.
Nawaz scored 38* runs off 22 balls while Haider scored 31 runs off 15 balls to bring Pakistan closer to the target. Iftikhar Ahmed’s cameo of 25 runs off 14 balls was enough for the Men in Green to chase down the target with 5 wickets and 3 balls to spare.
The magnificent victory will give Pakistan a major boost ahead of the upcoming 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Pakistan will begin its campaign against arch-rivals India on 23 October at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).