It was Pakistan's day in the sun, finally. After New Zealand ruled the roost for four straight games and made the series result a foregone conclusion, Pakistan showed how dangerous they can be when they get things right. With a fabulous bowling effort led by off-spinner Iftikhar Ahmed, the visitors skittled the hosts for a measly 92 in the second innings and completed a comprehensive 42-run win in the fifth and final T20I at Christchurch. (PAK vs NZ 5th T20I Scorecard | More Cricket News)
Though the match was technically a dead rubber and the Kiwis ended up clinching the series by a convincing 4-1 margin, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Co's superb performance with the ball in the final game augurs well for them in the run-up to the ICC T20 World Cup in June 2024.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Pakistan could only muster a seemingly below-par 134/8 in 20 overs. Fakhar Zaman (33 off 16 balls; 1x4, 4x6) was the only Men In Green batter who could get going. The rest of the batting floundered and could never really set the tempo.
Barring Fakhar, no batter in the visitor's top six had a strike rate in excess of 100. In fact, their mainstay Babar Azam scratched around for 24 balls, only scored 13 runs off them and was dropped twice, before finally being put out of his misery via a Glenn Phillips catch at deep midwicket off Ish Sodhi.
But few would have imagined that a target like 135 would become a mountain to surmount for the home team. The BlackCaps kept losing wickets, right from the get go. And it was the spinners who did the bulk of the damage for Pakistan.
Left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz dismissed fellow southpaw Rachin Ravindra in the second over of the chase, and struck again in the 10th over to send back Will Young. Flighted deliveries did the trick for both Nawaz and Iftikhar, who got some purchase from the Christchurch surface.
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Iftikhar trapped Tim Seifert in front with a full, tossed-up delivery in the 13th over, and then pulled off a smart caught-and-bowled in the 15th over to scalp Matt Henry. The offie bagged his third wicket in the same over with another flighted ball, this time enticing Ish Sodhi to go big over deep square and inducing a miscue which landed safely in the hands of Fakhar Zaman.
In between, leggie Usama Mir produced an outstanding caught-and-bowled effort to account for Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner. In all, the Pakistani spinners picked up six wickets and conceded just 63 runs in their 12 overs. And that is where the match was won.
Complementing the spinners, Shaheen Shah Afridi too bowled with discipline to keep a tight leash on the BlackCaps batters, but it was a moment of brilliance in the field that really swung the momentum the visitors' way.
In the first ball of the 11th over, Mark Chapman -- who was facing Iftikhar -- steered the ball down to Zaman Khan at short third. Chapman and his partner Tim Seifert set off for a quick run but not before a mix-up.
Chapman was struggling at the non-striker's end, and Zaman sent in a rocket throw to Iftikhar there. The off-spinner collected it cleanly behind the wickets and dislodged the bails without any fuss.
Chapman was found well short of his ground and the smart bit of fielding put Pakistan ahead in the match. The runout followed a torrid day in the field for Chapman, who dropped Babar Azam twice before the Pakistani batting lynchpin was finally caught by Glenn Phillips off Ish Sodhi.
Shaheen mopped up the last two wickets off successive balls in the 17th over. The Men In Green captain had Phillips caught at deep midwicket, and then cleaned up Lockie Ferguson with a searing yorker on middle stump to bring back memories of his lethal bowling displays. Maybe that's the sight the premier fast bowler needed to charge himself up, ahead of the marquee T20 tournament and the ever-riveting clash against arch-rivals India coming up in June.
