3rd T20: New Zealand beat Pakistan by 7 wickets

New Zealand beat Pakistan by 7 wickets in the 3rd T20 match.

……Asghar Ali Mubarak…….

In the third T20 match of the series played in Rawalpindi, the New Zealand team won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first.

Openers Saeem Ayub and Babar Azam gave Pakistan a good start and Babar gave the team a 55-run opening.

Saim scored 32 runs off 22 balls with the help of a six and 5 fours but his innings ended on the same score.

Mohammad Rizwan came to support the captain Babar Azam and both of them together took the score to 84 when Babar Azam became the wicket of Ash Sodhi.

As soon as the century was completed, the national team suffered two consecutive losses, first Rizwan, who scored 23 runs, retired and returned to the pavilion, while with the addition of one run, Usman Khan also returned to the pavilion after scoring four runs.

After the fall of 4 wickets for 104 runs, Irfan Khan Niazi came to support Shadab Khan and both of them played a good game and made a partnership of 62 runs off 34 balls.

Shadab Khan scored 41 off 20 balls with the help of 2 sixes and 4 fours while Irfan played an innings of 30 runs off 20 balls.

Pakistan scored 178 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

For New Zealand, Ash Sodhi took two catches while Jacob Duffy and Michael Bracewell took one wicket each.

Chasing the target, Kiwi openers Tim Robinson and Tim Seifert provided a 42-run opening, after which Abbas Afridi ended Seifert’s 21-run innings.

Tim Robinson also did not stay at the crease for long after that and Naseem Shah ended his innings of 28 runs.

Dan Foxcroft and Mark Chapman then took over and paved the way for the team’s victory, with Chapman in particular taking a very aggressive approach.

Dan Foxcroft’s innings ended with an individual score of 31, but Mark Chapman hit a brilliant 87 off 42 balls to set a new team record and remain unbeaten.

The Kiwi team achieved the target of 179 runs in the 19th over with the loss of 3 wickets.

Mark Chapman was adjudged man of the match for his excellent batting.

Pakistan made one change in the team for the match and Abbas Afridi was included in the squad in place of Mohammad Amir.

It should be remembered that the first match of the series between Pakistan and New Zealand was rained out, while in the second match of the series, Pakistan defeated the visiting team after a one-sided match and took the lead in the series.

The Pakistan team for the match consisted of these players.

Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan, Saib Ayub, Iftikhar Ahmed, Irfan Khan, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed.