New Zealand vs Pakistan 1st T20I: New Zealand thrashed Pakistan by 5 wickets to claim the victory in the first T20I

New Zealand vs Pakistan 1st T20I: New Zealand thrashed Pakistan by 5 wickets to claim the victory in the first T20I.

New Zealand claimed a convincing five wickets win over Pakistan in the first Twenty20 game with seven balls to spare. The speedster Jacob Duffy’s potent spell of 4-34 in his debut innings paved the way off for the home team.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first.

Pakistan’s innings:

Pakistan could not tackle the surprise of Jacob Duffy as the debutant speedster picked Shafique in his first over for a duck. Duffy did not stop here and picked the scalps of Rizwan and Mohammad Hafeez in two back to back deliveries.

Scott Kuggeleijn dismissed Haidar Ali and forced the visitors to the backfoot. Pakistan was reduced to 20-4 in just 5 overs.

The stand-in skipper, Shadab Khan tried to re-build the innings while there was no support from the other end. New Zealand bowlers did not let anyone settle down and score big.

Once again debutant Duffy showed his class, dismissed well-set Shadab Khan with a top edge to Ish Sodhi.

At the end to accelerate the run rate, tailender Faheem Ashraf picked some blinders out of the parks. Faheem scored quickfire 31 from 18 balls to set a respectable total for the home team.

New Zealand restricted Pakistan on 153-9 in 20 overs. Debutant Jacob Duffy picked the most 4 scalps while Scott Kuggeleijn got three wickets. Ish Sodhi and Flair Tickner got one each.

New Zealand:

The hosts while chasing looked pretty comfortable. Wicketkeeper Batsman Tim Siefert was the highest scorer of the game, amassing 57 runs in 43 balls. Siefert completed his fourth T20I half-century.

Two quick wickets for Haris Rauf paused the run chase for a moment but well set Tim Siefert was scoring at the other end.

Mark Chapman’s fiery innings to close the run-chase sailed New Zealand to a comfortable five wickets win with 7 balls to spare. 

Chapman amassed 34 runs from 20 deliveries that included four boundaries and a six.

The hosts broke Pakistan’s winning streak as New Zealand thrashed Pakistan by 5 wickets in the opening game of the three games series.

Jacob Duffy for his excellent debut was given the “Man of the Match” award.

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