Pakistan win their 7th consecutive T20I match after beating New Zealand in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Pakistan is currently the number 1 T20 International Team with 15 wins in 17 matches this year. Recently Pakistan whitewashed Australia in a 3 T20I match series.
The Pakistan Cricket Team won by only two runs after Ross Taylor hit a four on the last ball. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first. The team managed to score 148-6 in their 20 overs with Muhammad Hafeez shining with the bat by scoring 45 from 36 balls. Other good performances were by Sarfraz (34 from 26) and Asif Ali (24 from 21) with a fiery ending from Imad Wasim (14 from 5). New Zealand bowling was led by Adam Milne who managed to take 2 wickets for 28 runs whereas Patel, Grandhomme and Sodhi were able to take 1 wicket each. Pakistan’s start to the innings was pretty ordinary but they regained momentum in the middle of the innings.
New Zealand came out to bat with the opener Colin Munro in form who scored a quick fire 58 from 42 balls but the New Zealand team could not stabilize on the other end and wickets kept on falling. The star with the bowl was Hassan Ali who took 3-35 in his 4 overs and the spinners Imad Wasim and Shadab taking 1 wicket each. Ross Taylor stabled the Kiwi’s innings at the end with his 42 from 26 but his efforts were in vain.
Last over was given to Shaheen Shah Afridi with 17 runs to defend. The match came down till the last ball in which New Zealand required 6 runs to draw. Ross Taylor struck the ball over the fielder in the inner ring for a four as New Zealand fell 2 short of drawing the match. Man of the match was awarded to M Hafeez for his 45 from 36. He was able to steady the Pakistan innings after coming to the pitch with Pakistan losing 2 wickets in consecutive overs at the starting of the match.
