Credit goes to our openers Fakhar and Shehzad: Sarfraz Ahmed

After a disappointing winless tour in New Zealand, Pakistan fought back in the second T20I to beat New Zealand by 48 runs. This win levels the series with the decider to be played on January 28 at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui.

Man of the match, Fakhar Zaman made a quickfire 50 from 28 balls and shared a 94-run partnership with his fellow opener Ahmed Shehzad.

“This is our first win after a long time, so we’re happy,” Zaman said.

“The wicket was much better than the first game. We took our time and after two-to-three overs we played our shots. Our plan was to survive the Powerplay today. We did that, and we go the result. I’m enjoying my form at the moment,” he added further.

Pakistan’s top four batsmen showed a brilliant display of batting with Sarfraz Ahmed, the skipper, providing a devastating cameo with the bat of 41 from 24 balls. Safraz was satisfied with the performance and credited the bowlers for this victory.

“Credit goes to our openers Fakhar and Shehzad. They did the job. We knew 170 was the par score, and we knew that if we batted well we’d reach that far. We wanted to score 200, that’s why we wanted to bat first. Credit goes to all the bowlers as well. It is not easy to bowl on such a small ground. And it’s not easy captaining on a ground like this!” Sarfraz said after the match.

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, who got out on 0, first as a skipper admitted that Pakistan was a better side.

“Pakistan was excellent in all departments, and we were poor in all departments. When you catch Pakistan when they’re on fire, this is the result we get. [Mitchell] Santner and [Ben] Wheeler really came off today, so we do have belief in the camp.

“Bowling at the death is always tough, but overall the seamers have been bowling well. Simply, they got a lot of runs and we didn’t. We’re looking forward to the final game. We pride ourselves on our performances, but it’s important to move on. It’s a great opportunity to figure what went wrong, but after all, it’s T20 cricket,” Williamson signed off.

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