Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 9 runs in the fifth T20I to level the series 2-2.
Lahore: 27 April 2024: By Nawaz Gohar
Pakistan tied the series 2-2 by defeating New Zealand in the last T20 match.
Chasing Pakistan’s target of 179 runs, the New Zealand team was bowled out for 169 runs.
match played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, the Kiwi team won the toss and invited the Pakistan team to bat first.Batting first, the national team scored 178 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
Captain Babar Azam completed the 34th half-century of his career by showing responsible batting and played an excellent innings of 69 runs off 44 balls. His innings included 2 sixes and 6 fours.
Fakhar Zaman scored 43 runs and Usman Khan scored 31 runs while Shadab Khan played an innings of 15 runs in the closing moments.
Zach Foulkes, William O’Rourke, Ben Sears, Jimmy Neesham and Ash Sodhi took one wicket each for New Zealand.
The first match of the series was rained out. Pakistan won the second match while New Zealand won the third and fourth matches.
Shaheen Afridi returned to the national team, Pakistan team consists of captain Babar Azam, Saeem Ayub, Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Osama Mir, Abbas Afridi and Muhammad Amir.
The New Zealand team includes captain Michael Bracewell, Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Zach Foulkes, Cole McConkey, Jimmy Neesham, William O’Rourke, Ben Sears, Tim Siffert and Ash Sodhi.