‘Pita ji mein phir se failho gaaya’ – Fans react as New Zealand beating Pakistan, Green Brigade drops to number three in ODI rankings
Iftikhar Ahmed top scored for Pakistan with an unbeaten 94.
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May 8, 2023 11:57 am
PAK VS NZ (Source: Twitter)
Pakistan and New Zealand squared off against each other for the final time in the ODI series at Karachi. New Zealand won the toss and chose to bat. Though the Kiwis lost Tom Blundell early, Will Young smashed the Pakistan bowlers en route to his stroke-filled 87 off 91 balls with eight fours and two sixes. Young was caught by Mohammad Rizwan off Shadab Khan. The Blackcaps batters were not able to get the big score barring Young. But they all made sizable contributions.
Tom Latham the skipper came out at number four and made a patient 59 off 58 balls with five fours. Latham fell to Usama Mir and was caught by Agha Salman. Mark Chapman came in and played an entertaining innings of 43 off 33 balls with five fours and two sixes. The Shadab Rizwan combination came together again to get him out. Cole McConchie made 26 off 25 balls with two fours and one six. He was caught by Iftikhar Ahmed off Shaheen Afridi.
Rachin Ravindra and Henry Shipley picked up three wickets each to derail Pakistan in the run chase
Rachin Ravindra made 28 off 20 with four fours and gave a vital contribution down the order, After this, the Pakistan bowlers struck back with vengeance to keep New Zealand down to 299 all out in their 50 overs. Shaheen Afridi picked up 3-46 in his 10 overs. Mir picked up 2-53 in his eight overs spell. Shadab picked up 2-67 in his nine overs.
In the second innings, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman all went early to leave the Men in Green tottering at 66-4. Pakistan hit back with some serious rear-guard action. Salman made a run a ball 57 with six fours and one six. Iftikhar played a counter-attacking innings of an unbeaten 94 off 72 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
However, Henry Shipley and Ravindra were the chief wreckers of the Pakistan batting lineup. Shipley picked up 3-34 in his nine overs spell. Ravindra picked up 3-65 in his 10-over quota. With wickets falling rapidly, Iftikhar ran out of partners and could not finish the job for Pakistan. The Men in Green lost the game by 47 runs and also were no longer the number-one ranked side in ODIs.
