New Zealand 137 for 5 (Seifert 45, Allen 38, Rauf 2-20) beat Pakistan 135 for 9 (Agha 46, Sodhi 2-17, Duffy 2-20, Sears 2-23) by five wickets
In the second Twenty20 International in Dunedin, New Zealand easily defeated Pakistan with strong powerplays with both the ball and the bat, giving the hosts a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
Tim Seifert (45 from 22 balls) and Finn Allen (38 from 16) put an early end to the chase by contributing 66 in just 28 deliveries after Jacob Duffy, Ben Sears, and Ish Sodhi pegged Pakistan early to cripple their batting effort and force the visitors to make only 135 in the 15-overs-a-side match.
The Pakistani team’s strong points came from Khushdil Shah and Haris Rauf’s frugal stints and Salman Agha’s 46. Even though the gap between the two teams was smaller than it was in the first Twenty20 International, the hosts outperformed them overall. The teams will now travel to Auckland, where a loss will put the visitors out of the series.
Sodhi praises the new-ball effort made by NZ.
Hasan Nawaz, the opener, miscued a shot to backward point in the first over itself after Duffy’s rising delivery caused New Zealand stand-in captain Michael Bracewell to decide to bowl. Then, when an aggressive Mohammad Haris chopped the bowler to deep third, Sears removed him for 11.
The visitors’ innings was subsequently given some boost by a counterattack by Pakistan’s captain, Agha, but Bracewell’s introduction of Sodhi crippled them. After being stranded in front of the stumps by the wristspinner, Khushdil was limping back two deliveries after Irfan Khan’s leading edge off Sodhi had him holing out at backward point.
In the middle overs, Agha’s 28-ball 46 put New Zealand in danger, but Pakistan lost momentum when he was bowled out by Sears in the tenth over of his second stint. But Shaheen Shah Afridi’s 14-ball 22 and Shadab Khan’s 14-ball 26 provided some late momentum to help the visitors reach 135 for 9 in 15 overs. In his first Twenty20 International in nine months, James Neesham concluded with two wickets for twenty-six, both of which came in the thirteenth over.
“The guys bowling into the wind bowled particularly well,” Bracewell said after the game. “I think when the wicket’s been under covers for a day or so and offering extra bounce, our bowlers used the surface well. We were pretty happy with the score at half-time.”
