Robinson, Bowlers Help New Zealand Go 2-1 Up Against Pakistan

A maiden T20I 51 (36) by opener Tim Robinson and spirited bowling from the fast-bowling duo of O’Rourke and Sears helped New Zealand beat Pakistan by 4 runs in the fourth match and lead the five-match T20I series 2-1 at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday night

LAHORE, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 25th Apr, 2024) A maiden T20I 51 (36) by opener Tim Robinson and spirited bowling from the fast-bowling duo of O’Rourke and Sears helped New Zealand beat Pakistan by 4 runs in the fourth match and lead the five-match T20I series 2-1 at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Thursday night.

Young O’Rourke (3-27) and Ben Sears (2-27) were the most economical bowlers who bowled their hearts out in front of a capacity Gaddafi stadium crowd to restrict Pakistan to 174-8 in pursuit of a target of 179 and take lead in the series much to the surprise of the local cricket pundits who had predicted a white-wash for the young, inexperienced visiting Kiwis side. The experienced bowling pair of Michael Bracewell and James Neesham also claimed a wicket each for 31 and 21 runs off their four and two overs respectively. Jacob Duffy and Ish Sodhi could not leave an impact and conceded 42 and 21 runs in six wicketless overs between them.

The Kiwis bowlers had bowled with freedom and ferocity from the beginning of the innings and applied consistent pressure on the Pakistani batsmen and regular wickets kept Pakistan under pressure. The New Zealand had come up with a perceptible plan against the Pakistani batsmen and succeeded.

Chasing 179, Pakistan had lost sight of the target inside the powerplay when they lost both the openers Babar Azam 5 (5) and Saim Ayub 20 (15) for 40 runs in the fifth over while Usman Khan 16 (11) went back to the hut in the very next over with the team reeling at 46-3.

Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan shouldered the innings but Shadab 7 (8) deserted his partner in the 10th over with team total at 79-4. Fakhar and Iftikhar, in a partnership of 59 runs off 41 balls gave Pakistan the hope to overhaul the target but all hopes died with the fall of Iftikhar Ahmed 23 (20). Fakhar Zaman 61 (45) kept the hopes alive but his fall in the 18th over extinguished the flame of hope, if any. Imad Wasim 22 (11) did his best to take Pakistan over the line, after all-rounder Abbas Afridi ran himself out for 1 (2), but he fell short by four runs.

Earlier, the Kiwis got the best opening start of the series so far as Blundel and Robinson hit 56 runs in first five overs of the powerplay while the 56 runs were scored for the first wicket before Tom Blundel fell for 28 (15) runs.

Dean Foxcroft played a useful knock of 34 runs off 26 balls laced with three 6s while hero of the third T20I Mark Chapman could score 9 off as many balls before he was dismissed off a spectacular catch by Shadab Khan off Iftikhar Ahmed. Tim Robinson took 36 balls to score his maiden fifty scored a sedate 51 (). The Kiwis amassed 93 runs in the first 10 overs with the 100 reached in 11.2 overs off 69 balls. Michael Bracewell played a sedate captain’s knock 27 (20) to take his team’s total to 180 which he had set for his team at the toss and collected 37 valuable runs in partnership with James Neesham 11 (11) for the sixth wicket after they had lost five wickets for 132 runs in 14.3 overs. James Neesham could not play an impactful innings. Josh Clarkson fell first ball to a searing Abbas Afridi yorker while Ish Sodhi was the last man to fall off the last ball of the innings to Mohammad Amir’s slower ball.

The Kiwis had an ideal start in the first half of their innings as they score 93 runs for the loss of one wicket but could not accelerate as they had desired and could score 85 runs in the second half of the innings and lost six wickets. The Black Caps scored 178-7 in their innings and set a target of 179 for Pakistan to chase.

Abbas Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as he grabbed three wickets for 20 runs off three overs while Mohammad Amir, Zaman Khan, Usama Mir and Iftikhar Ahmed claimed one wicket each for 32, 35, 43 and 14 runs respectively. Zaman Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed three and two overs each. Imad Wasim remained wicketless and conceded 32 runs off his four overs.

Pakistan made four changes in the team and included Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan pursuing the rotation policy and opportunity to all players in search of a formidable combination for the ICC Men’s T20I World Cup in West Indies and USA 2024 but their combinations have not provided the desired results so far. Pakistan face New Zealand in the final match of the series at the same venue on April 27 (Saturday) at 7:30 p.m. with the hope to salvage a series levelling victory while the Black Caps will push hard for a series win.