Toss
After winning the toss, Pakistan made the decision to bat first.
Pakistan Inning
After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Pakistan got off to a shaky start, but Zaman and Ayub helped them recover.
Mohammad Rizwan was leg-before for 8 runs, and then Babar Azam was bowled by speedster Adam Milne before the 5th over, resulting in Pakistan losing both of their openers for a total of just 30 runs.
Ayub stepped up the scoring by hitting two fours off of Ben Lister and Milne, and then he and Zaman both smashed sixes off of the spin bowler Ish Sodhi in the ninth over. This helped to quicken the run rate.
During his 34 deliveries knock, Zaman hit two maximums and 4 fours, while Ayub’s quick innings consisted of two maximums and six boundaries over the course of 28 balls.
Before Zaman got caught at Wide Square leg against Sodhi, Ayub got run out while he was attempting to take a second run.
Wasim made sixteen runs off of just 13 deliveries, and Faheem Ashraf added 22 runs off just 16 deliveries to assist Pakistan add 47 scores in the final 5 overs of their innings.
Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman each made 47 runs, and the two of them combined for a 79-run stand for the 3rd wicket which anchored Pakistan to 182 runs before they were all out in 19.5 overs. Azam’s innings ended in failure with only nine runs.
Each of Ben Lister and Adam Milne took 2 wickets for their team.
Hat-trick for Matt Henry
Matt Henry, a pace bowler for New Zealand, took three wickets in 4 overs and was the most effective bowler for the tourists with his 32 for 3. Henry also got a hat trick. He removed Shaheen Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, and Shadab Khan.
New Zealand Inning
The skillful bowling displayed by Pakistan kept New Zealand under strain for the entirety of their attempt to score runs, with Pakistan’s home side scooping up frequent wickets in the process.
Mark Chapman made the most runs with 34 runs off 27 balls, which included 4 four-run boundaries and one maximum. Team captain Tom Latham made 20 runs off 24 balls.
Imad Wasim, a left-arm spin bowler, ended with taking 2 wickets on 2 deliveries in his lone over, getting both of his victims off consecutive deliveries to finish with those stats.
Whilst Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, and Zaman Khan grabbed one each.
Haris Rauf, a quick bowler who was one of 5 players that returned to the team despite being rested during Pakistan’s most recent series with Afghanistan, had his best career number of 18 runs with 4 wickets as New Zealand was bowled out for 94 runs in 15.3 overs.
Rauf’s earlier best T20 stats of 22 runs with 4 wickets were achieved as well versus New Zealand in 2021 in Sharjah. These figures were recorded during Rauf’s match against New Zealand.
New Zealand’s innings ended after 15.3 overs with only 94 runs scored when they were attempting to reach the desired score of 183 runs.
Result
In the first Twenty20 International match of the 5-match series, which took place on Friday in Lahore at the Gaddafi Stadium, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by a score of 88 runs.
Squad
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Zaman Khan, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi
New Zealand: Chad Bowes, Tom Latham (wk/c), Daryl Mitchell, Will Young, James Neesham, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Lister, Ish Sodhi, Matt Henry
20
0
20
20
Aon Ali has graduated from the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Multan in 2012 and then he started his career in a local News agency as an IT manager. Later on, he started creating news reports for the sports category. Since he is fond of cricket, so most of his work is in the coverage of news related to local cricket events.
