Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 9 runs in the fifth T20 match. The series is tied.

Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 9 runs in the fifth T20 match. The series is tied.

Asghar Ali Mubarak

Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 9 runs in the fifth T20 match and leveled the series at 2-2. New Zealand won the toss and decided to field. Set a target of 179 runs for victory,

New Zealand’s James Neesham, Ash Sodhi, Ben Sears, William O’Rourke and Zachary Foulkes took one wicket each. On behalf of Pakistan, captain Babar Azam was the top scorer by scoring 69 runs,

Fakhar Zaman scored 43 runs and Usman Khan scored 31 runs, Iftikhar Ahmed scored 6 and Saim Ayub scored 1. Earlier, in the last T20 match of the series being played at Lahore Gaddafi Stadium,

New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first. As Pakistan opened the innings, Saeem Ayub suffered his fifth consecutive innings failure and was the wicket of William O’Rourke after scoring just one run.

Captain Babar Azam and Usman Khan took over the team on this occasion and put on a partnership of 73 runs for the second wicket.

On a total score of 81, Ash Sodhi gave his team the second win and dismissed Usman Khan who scored 31 runs. Babar continued to play well and scored a half-century along with Fakhar Zaman to take the score to 123, but the national team captain who scored 69 off 44 balls on the same score was bowled.

Fakhar Zaman displayed aggressive batting and played a crucial role in bringing Pakistan’s score to a reasonable total by playing 43 runs off 33 balls. Zachary Foulkes, William O’Rourke,

Ben Sears, Ash Sodhi and James Neesham took one wicket each for New Zealand. For the match, Pakistan made a change in the team and replaced Zaman Khan with Shaheen Shah Afridi as part of the final XI.

New Zealand have also made three changes for the match, including Tim Seifert, Colin McConchie and Zachary Foulkes. It should be noted that New Zealand had an unbeaten lead of 1-2 in the 5-match series.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Saeem Ayub, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim. , Shaheen Afridi, Osama Mir, Abbas Afridi, Muhammad Amir.

New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (captain), Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Zach Foulkes, Cole McConchie, James Neesham, Will Overke, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert (wicketkeeper), Ash Sodhi.