PAK vs NZ : Pakistan won by 94 runs

New Zealand went to play T20 and ODI series in Pakistan without some key players of the team. In the first match of the series that began with the T20, the relatively underpowered visiting team was ignored. They were bowled out for just 94 runs by the bowling of Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi. Earlier, Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayubra stormed with the bat. The Kiwis failed to put up a fight and started the series with a huge loss of 88 runs.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi returned from rest with this match. Earlier, Pakistan played without them in the series against Afghanistan. But the team led by Shadab Khan lost the series by 2-1. However, the return to the field did not start well for openers Babar-Rizwan.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Friday (April 14). Although the beginning was not good for them. Babar (9) and Rizwan (8), who became synonymous with the record in the T20 opening pair, got out in the power play. Both were returned by Adam Milne. Then came the pair of Fakhar and Saim 79 runs. Which gave hosts Pakistan a big run capital.

Both of them scored equal 47 runs with a flurry of four-sixes. At one time it seemed that Pakistan would cross 200 easily. But in the 12th over, their innings suffered when the pair broke in the run-out of Sime for 109 runs. At this time, the hosts lost 4 wickets with a gap of 22 runs due to the excellent bowling of Matt Henry and Ish Sodhi. Lost last 4 wickets by 23 runs. Henry is New Zealand's best bowler with 3 wickets for 32 runs. Milne and Ben Lister took two wickets each. Pakistan, who were all out with 1 ball to spare, scored 182 runs.

After 5 months on this day, Shaheen Afridi started playing in Pakistan jersey. Before that, he last played for the country in the T20 World Cup final on November 13, 2022. The 23-year-old star fast bowler was knocked out that day with a knee injury. Then he returned to the field in PSL. Under his leadership, Lahore Qalandars became champions at home.

The Kiwis could not even reach three figures thanks to Haris, Zaman Khan and Afridi, who won the title for Lahore Qalandars. None of the Kiwi batsmen could stand in front of the Pakistani bowlers. All but one Mark Chapman joined the procession. Chapman scored 34 runs off 27 balls. No one else scored a run to speak of. Captain Tom Latham also returned with 20 runs off 24 balls. After losing 3 wickets in the powerplay, skipper Latham tried to overcome the disaster. But his tortoise pace innings could not meet the demands of T20. The Kiwis were all out for 94 in the last 15.3 overs.

Haris Rauf took the maximum 4 wickets for the hosts. Apart from this, Imad Wasim took 2 wickets and Afridi, Zaman, Fahim Ashraf and Shadab took one wicket each. Babar used seven bowlers on this day. Except Iftikhar Ahmed, everyone else got a wicket. Threatened to take action if not kept in the team, Imad fell towards the end and took 16 runs as well as two wickets.

By winning this match, Babar's team took a 1-0 lead in the five series. New Zealand Cricket Board has given leave to all the cricketers who got team in IPL from visiting Pakistan. In other words, they sent a second-tier team. As a result, Pakistan's victory was somewhat predictable.

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