Hassan Nawaz remained unbeaten on 105 in the chase. © Getty Pakistan’s latest T20I opener Hassan Nawaz showed his full repertoire en route to a 44-ball century, the fastest for Pakistan in the format, as the visitors beat New Zealand by nine wickets at Eden Park, Auckland. Set a competitive target of 205 on a flat surface, Pakistan rode on Nawaz’s carnage with able contributions from skipper Agha Salman (51* off 31) and Mohammad Haris (41 off 20) to get the job done in just 16 overs, This result keeps the five-match series alive with New Zealand leading 2-1. It seemed like Pakistan would be on the receiving end of another hammering as Mark Chapman (94 off 44) led New Zealand’s charge earlier in the evening with a spectacular assault. There was a hint of movement with the new ball but conditions soon eased out with the true bounce aiding strokeplay at Eden Park. A stunner of a catch by Haris Rauf at short fine leg had sent Finn Allen packing early while the pacer then had Tim Seifert holing a skier to mid-on. Chapman, though, singlehandedly carried the momentum forward for the Black Caps with a clinical display of ball-striking. There weren’t any other notable contributions in the top six as everyone rallied around Chapman’s one-man show. Pakistan’s ground fielding was quite sloppy and with Chapman going berserk, a total of 220 or even 230 seemed on. However, Pakistan just about hung in there with timely strikes before triggering a mini-collapse around the 15-over mark. Shadab Khan had earlier taken out Daryl Mitchell and the promotion to no.5 for Jimmy Neesham didn’t work as he fell to Abbas Afridi. It was Shaheen Afridi, though, who struck the big blow by forcing a miscue off Chapman. It was the perfect time for Pakistan to claw their way back and Abrar Ahmed then strengthened the visitors’ grip with a double strike. The wrist spinner bowled Mitchell Hay and Kyle Jamieson with googlies to derail New Zealand’s charge. All of a sudden, the hosts had slipped from 135/3 to 164/7 with five overs still left. Skipper Michael Bracewell (31 off 18) played a crucial hand to ensure that the innings didn’t fall off the cliff and New Zealand were also aided by Salman’s baffling decision to not bowl Abrar out, particularly with the lower order in. Bracewell’s cameo and his 29-run stand with Ish Sodhi allowed the Black Caps to get past 200 but they had easily left about 20-30 runs out there. As it turned out, it proved critical with the way Pakistan got going in the chase. Nawaz and Haris were on song from the get-go, the latter smashing two sixes off the first over from Jamieson to set the tone for the tourists. Haris was the initial aggressor although Nawaz also got off the blocks rather quickly. The 50-run stand came up in a jiffy and by the time Haris fell to a Jacon Duffy short ball, Pakistan were already 74 with one delivery of the Powerplay remaining. New Zealand would have hoped to put the squeeze on once the field spread but that wasn’t to be as Nawaz rode his luck with adventurous strokeplay. Salman, meanwhile, gave him good support and with dew also setting in, New Zealand were under the pump. Things could have, perhaps, turned a bit had Sodhi held onto a skier at fine leg in the tenth over with Nawaz on 68. The asking rate had come down to just over eight-runs-per-over at the stage but a wicket could have put some panic in the Pakistan dug out. Instead, they feasted on the reprieve as Nawaz and Salman smashed their team to a famous win. Brief scores: New Zealand 204 in 19.5 overs (Mark Chapman 94; Haris Rauf 3-29, Abbas Afridi 2-24) lost to Pakistan 207/1 in 16 overs (Hassan Nawaz 105*, Agha Salman 51*) by nine wickets
