New Zealand (226/8) defeat Pakistan (180) by 46 runs in the first T20I to go 1-0 up in the 5-match series

[Rana]

How often? Dr sb. 220 is still overpar

He is right though. Pakistan were in the driving seat until the 14th/15th over

They were only there because the guys showed the intent to chase it for once!

 

[Mohraheem]

This ground was perfect for some batter like Azam khan and Iftikhar but still Pakistan ended up on loosing side. Poor fielding cost the match again.

View attachment 141240

So why didn’t Ifthikhar play properly ? When will people realize he ain’t an international player!

 

[RidiculousMan]

Whaaaaat? U still want Ifthikhar, he couldn’t play all today

He's one of the better players against express pace that we have got. He's good at the death when we need someone to hit some sixes.

He has performances in this role in T20Is

 

[Mohraheem]

He's one of the better players against express pace that we have got. He's good at the death when we need someone to hit some sixes.

He has performances in this role in T20Is

My question what happened to this Chacha!!!

 

[Human786]

easily chase-able at this ground.

said at Interval itself game over - finito

 

[zaidihusain]

He's one of the better players against express pace that we have got. He's good at the death when we need someone to hit some sixes.

He has performances in this role in T20Is

Iftikhar scored 24 of 17 balls out of which his 16 runs came of 3 balls with 2 sixes and a boundary. He managed to score only 8 runs out of remaining 14 balls he played which is a failure in T20 cricket as it kills the momentum.

 

[topspin]

I missed the game but having looked at the fall of wickets it seems that Pakistan were well ahead of the rate after the first 5 overs and then Babar came and slowed Pakistan down.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

I missed the game but having looked at the fall of wickets it seems that Pakistan were well ahead of the rate after the first 5 overs and then Babar came and slowed Pakistan down.

Babar didn't slowed down. Ifti and azam khan did. Babar did his best

 

[Geordie Ahmed]

So why didn’t Ifthikhar play properly ? When will people realize he ain’t an international player!

This is so true

Never understood how Iftikhar has so many fans

The guy is a repeated failure with the odd decent moment, much rather invest in someone younger that could potentially become a top player

 

[MenInG]

Highlights of the game

 

[Hassan A]

Black Caps beat Pakistan in first T20 as Mitchell stars, Sodhi takes sharp catch

At Eden Park, Auckland: New Zealand 226-8 (Daryl Mitchell 61 off 27, Kane Williamson 57 off 42, Finn Allen 34 off 15; Abbas Afridi 3-34 off 4; Shaeen Shah Afridi 3-46 off 4) beat Pakistan 180 all out in 18 overs (Babar Azam 57 off 35; Tim Southee 4-25 off 4) by 46 runs. Click here for full scoreboard

A thunderous knock by Indian Premier League millionaire Daryl Mitchell and a stunning one-handed grab by leg-spinner Ish Sodhi helped the Black Caps win the first of five Twenty20 internationals against Pakistan on Friday.

Mitchell made 61 off 27 as the Black Caps posted 226-8, their fifth-highest T20 international total and the third-highest on Eden Park, which was also the highest ever conceded in a T20 by their opponents.

Sodhi then took a sharp return catch off his own bowling, getting down low to his left, as they dismissed Pakistan for 180 in the 18th over to win by 46 runs, with Tim Southee taking 4-25 off four overs in front of a crowd of 20,055 in Auckland.

Apart from Devon Conway’s second-ball golden duck, the Black Caps produced a near-perfect innings after Shaheen Shah Afridi sent them in.

Finn Allen also fell inside the power play, but only after he had made 35 off 15, including 24 off one Afridi over.

The opener’s ballistics allowed Kane Williamson to play a more cautious knock without putting his side under a great deal of pressure.

He was lucky to survive as a couple of catches went down, including a relatively straightforward chance to a backtracking Babar Azam at long-on when he was only on nine off 11.

Williamson took nine overs to raise his strike rate over 100, but accelerated as he brought up his half-century off 40 balls, ultimately departing for 57 off 42 when he was caught by Fakhar Zaman at long-on.

Mitchell then took over, scoring 54 off the last 21 balls he faced to move the Black Caps within reach of 200. He was caught at deep mid-wicket by Saim Ayub when Afridi returned at the death.

Mark Chapman then put the icing on the cake with an innings of 26 off 11, while Adam Milne and Tim Southee both hit useful sixes in the absence of Mitchell Santner, who was ruled out and remained at the team hotel after testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday morning.

Pakistan got off to a flyer as they began what would have been their record T20 chase, racing out to 29-0 at the end of the second over.

The Black Caps then made a crucial breakthrough when Saim Ayub backed up too far and was run out by a sharp Adam Milne for 27 off eight.

A second power play wicket came in the sixth over, when Southee got Mohammed Rizwan to sky one and Devon Conway took ownership of the catch, sending the other opener on his way for 25 off 14.

Pakistan were 64-2 as the fielders moved back, slightly behind the asking rate. That was when Sodhi entered the contest as a bowler, and after going for 13 in his first over, he pulled off a blinder of a one-handed catch in his second to dismiss the dangerous Fakhar for 15 off 10.

At the halfway stage, the visitors were 109-3, needing 116 off 60 deliveries. Sodhi was involved again as they suffered their next setback, when Iftikhar Ahmed top-edged one to him at short fine leg off the bowling of Southee and had to go for 24 off 17.

Babar was looming as the key man for Pakistan and he upped the ante in the 15th over, hitting Ben Sears for back-to-back boundaries to leave his side needing 68 off 30.

Azam Khan fell the next ball, caught well by a retreating Williamson at extra cover off the bowling of Milne, who then had Afridi caught behind two balls later. He should have had a third, but Matt Henry misjudged a catch at deep point and conceded four to Aamer Jamal instead.

Babar began the 17th over with a boundary, but hit the second ball from Ben Sears to Williamson and was sent on his way for 57 off 35, all-but ending his side’s hopes.

The two teams meet again in Hamilton on Sunday night, with the final three matches to follow in the South Island next week.

 

[mazkhan]

The bowling lost us this one

Shaheen was rubbish he's not captaincy material as well.

Abbas did OK on debut.

Jamal was unlucky he had 2 wickets one was no ball and the other was umpire call but he lacks control .

Rauf was OK.

Usama mir was the weak link bowled some terrible stuff

Fielding was rubbish but azam khan looked OK and I have to admit I was wrong but saim ayub was brilliant with the catching.


I still think wasim jnr needs to be bought into the team somehow. He's very underrated with the ball.

I think we let nz score 20/30 runs too much.

I'm also of the opinion if azam is being trialled as the keeper , rizwan needs dropping, farhan needs to be bought in.

And fakhar has to open imo.

With farhan at 3.

 

[mazkhan]

Iftikhar scored 24 of 17 balls out of which his 16 runs came of 3 balls with 2 sixes and a boundary. He managed to score only 8 runs out of remaining 14 balls he played which is a failure in T20 cricket as it kills the momentum.

I've said it before chacha is 50 Yr misbah on steroids and hormone injections.

He plays like misbah block block block six block .

 

[PakPremi]

Babar didn't slowed down. Ifti and azam khan did. Babar did his best

As I said prejudices without even having watched the full game

 

[Omer2002]

well lets start with teh fielding efforts not just the dropped catches plus no ball wickets plus horrendous fielding...then running btw wickets when they are clearly saying it is a drop in wicket why are you running on grass what is the pitch for atleast 4 players i noticed kept on running on grass while batting.

Bowling was awful to be honest ..Azam not sure why he played instead of Sahibzada. it should be him or rizzy but Azam just looks a hacker so need to stick with Rizzy. I think Babz at 3 was a good decision with fakhar at 4 as we have no choice Rizzy would be just awful there.

Lets just hope for the best

 

[MenInG]

I missed the game but having looked at the fall of wickets it seems that Pakistan were well ahead of the rate after the first 5 overs and then Babar came and slowed Pakistan down.

You are right.

 

[Sher Khan]

Pakistan are fully capable of putting up a fight in this series. But the problem is the lack of middle order options and too many passengers in the team.

I struggle to understand why Usama Mir keeps being played, do we not have any other spinners in Pakistan?

Also with Azam Khan, he has shown nothing spectacular in International cricket to keep getting chances.

 

[zaidihusain]

I've said it before chacha is 50 Yr misbah on steroids and hormone injections.

He plays like misbah block block block six block .

Lols. Shoaib Akhtar was the first one who called Iftikhar as Misbah 2.0 before 2022 T20 WC

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Babar didnt slow Pakistan down but the best of Babar is not good enough to win Pakistan games most of the time.

Thats a travesty because best of Kohli is considerably of a different league.

Babar is a poor mans Jayawardene type of player.

Looks elegant, scores soft runs and has no ability to impact a match.

 

[MenInG]

Babar didnt slow Pakistan down but the best of Babar is not good enough to win Pakistan games most of the time.

Thats a travesty because best of Kohli is considerably of a different league.

Babar is a poor mans Jayawardene type of player.

Looks elegant, scores soft runs and has no ability to impact a match.

Challo, so he didn't slow Pakistan down BUT we had to get our 2 cents on Babar in anyways in the post?

Do we have any other thoughts on this loss? Possibly our bowlers didn't bowl well?

 

[Markhor]

The result of this series is irrelevant. The priority is addressing problem areas with the T20 WC in six months. The big concern is our fielding which is deteriorating with every game !

Sick of these drops and dumb misfields. T20s can be decided by small margins and you can't give good players second chances.

Middle order is still fragile while Usama Mir didn't do his chances of making the squad much good.

Positives - Saim Ayub getting us off to a flyer and Abbas Afridi bowled with intelligence.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Looking at the win probability graph Pakistan was never in the game except first few overs. Not a surprising total given the size of Eden Park ground with 55 meter straight boundaries, 65 meter side boundaries.

 

[Omer2002]

Main concern is the fielding and attrocious catching...that definately cost us.

 

[MenInG]

The result of this series is irrelevant. The priority is addressing problem areas with the T20 WC in six months. The big concern is our fielding which is deteriorating with every game !

This is very alarming and PCB only paying lip service to it.

 

[Champ_Pal]

These NZ grounds look like your local parks where toddlers celebrate their birthdays. Any runs scored here should not be taken too seriously.

 

[Mohraheem]

Pakistan are fully capable of putting up a fight in this series. But the problem is the lack of middle order options and too many passengers in the team.

I struggle to understand why Usama Mir keeps being played, do we not have any other spinners in Pakistan?

Also with Azam Khan, he has shown nothing spectacular in International cricket to keep getting chances.

And Chacha??? As for Azam khan statement goes, same goes for Chacha

 

[shamaan]

The problem with this pakistani team is, not a single player can start hitting from the word go... Everyone requires atleast 10 dot balls to start the innings.. By that time half of them gets out another half score some meaningless 30-40 with run a ball... Change how many coaches you want.. Until and unless the mindset is changed they will keep getting results like this..

Haris can hit from ball one.

 

[shamaan]

I think the score was Marginally above par.

Mir simply isnt good enough however he should get atleast 2 more games.

Babar played well batting at Number.

Great Tactics from New Zealand in bowling chest height to Azam Khan in which he looked very uncomfortable.

 

[Rana]

I have never seen 29 runs in 2 overs when rizbab open.

Yes they reach that in the 4th or 5th over

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Challo, so he didn't slow Pakistan down BUT we had to get our 2 cents on Babar in anyways in the post?

Do we have any other thoughts on this loss? Possibly our bowlers didn't bowl well?

We were in the game before Iftikhar and company lost their way.

How do you think Babar did?

 

[MenInG]

We were in the game before Iftikhar and company lost their way.

How do you think Babar did?

I look at his score and think he did well but not excellent.

You remove him from that scorecard and you have even a lower score.

 

[Mohraheem]

I look at his score and think he did well but not excellent.

You remove him from that scorecard and you have even a lower score.

Which angle he did well? lol missed 4 dot balls! Which destroyed our momentum! As per your theory is pretty lame no disrespect. Thn please explain what happened in this ?

Pakistan vs England T20
World Cup game BIG 0

Iftikhar Ahmed	0	6	0	0	0.00
c †Buttler b Stokes

Now let’s remove the 0 from the score

Score is still 137/8

 

[shamaan]

Which angle he did well? lol missed 4 dot balls! Which destroyed our momentum! As per your theory is pretty lame no disrespect. Thn please explain what happened in this ?

Pakistan vs England T20
World Cup game BIG 0

Iftikhar Ahmed	0	6	0	0	0.00
c †Buttler b Stokes

Now let’s remove the 0 from the score

Score is still 137/8

are you saying 4 dot balls cost pakistan the game ?

 

[PakPremi]

Which angle he did well? lol missed 4 dot balls! Which destroyed our momentum! As per your theory is pretty lame no disrespect. Thn please explain what happened in this ?

Pakistan vs England T20
World Cup game BIG 0

Iftikhar Ahmed	0	6	0	0	0.00
c †Buttler b Stokes

Now let’s remove the 0 from the score

Score is still 137/8

MIG was referring to Babar contribution , which was not 0. I think u talking about Ifti .

 

[Dantheone]

Babar had no clue when he started. He could have been out in single figure. Still went on to score runs. Both Fakhar's and Saim's dismissals were streaky. Had one of them stayed scored would have been chased. Having said that some poor bowling and fielding from Pakistan.

 

[Mohraheem]

are you saying 4 dot balls cost pakistan the game ?

Go re watch the game! Ifthikhar killed the momentum with those 4 dot balls and his wicket!

 

[sweep_shot]

Pakistan conceded 20 runs too many probably. Should've restricted them to around 200.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Pak lost the momentum in last 7 overs

200 was very much chaseable on this track

 

[Saj]

Never looked in the match.

Well below par in all facets and deserved nothing in the match.

 

[topspin]

You are right.

Bit of a stop start innings today wasn't it.

Some good periods and a few overs where he struggled.

 

[MenInG]

Bit of a stop start innings today wasn't it.

Some good periods and a few overs where he struggled.

Only good thing one could say is that he hit some runs at a Okish SR

 

[Savak]

Dissapointing result. Pakistan should have been able to chase down that target given the small size of the Eden Park Stadium. Pakistan should have aimed to score 12-15 runs per over from the onset, very risky and faulty strategy to leave 12-15 runs per over for the last 5 overs, 9 times out of 10 you will not pull it off but the only way to chase down 230 run targets in 20 overs is when you go hard from the start and are ahead of the run rate in the first 10-12 overs.

Babar Azam once again showed he is the master of soft unimpactful runs.

 

[Savak]

Pakistan's Fitness and Fielding coaches need to be fired. We need to hire foreigners and give them total control. For a T-20 side, you cannot be so pathetic in the field and look this unfit. Pakistani coaching staff is usually very soft on the players when it comes to Fitness and Fielding.

 

[Aami]

I can never fathom how Azam was selected?
For Gods sake man, you're privileged to play for your country, out of 230 million you're one of 11 on the park.
Have some respect for yourself, us and the country, and lose some pounds!

 

[Aami]

Pakistan's Fitness and Fielding coaches need to be fired. We need to hire foreigners and give them total control. For a T-20 side, you cannot be so pathetic in the field and look this unfit. Pakistani coaching staff is usually very soft on the players when it comes to Fitness and Fielding.

Nothing wrong with our fielders, just in the building phase, at the moment, of elite athletes; give your self a few years and they will all be like Azam Khan. Job done.

 

[ads101]

Haris can hit from ball one.

He can but he gets out. He doesn’t time the ball as naturally.

Others like Fakhar are great hitting but struggle early innings.

Sharjeel is the only one I’ve seen naturally comfortable hitting against pace early on in recent past. Maybe Umar akmal to an extent. That’s why I get why people pine for Sharjeel even though I think he’s past it now.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Pakistan lost the match due to fielding simple as that. Had they taken those catches, NZ would have had 20 runs short and the game would have ended differently as it did.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Rizwan is there to build pressure on Saim. He is the reason why Babar started struggling.

Rizwan should bat at 4. Fakhar/Haris and Saim should be our openers.

Rizwan is not an opener a limited batsman

Kamran akmal thrived in the wk opener role because of his range of shots on the offside

Rizwan pushed to open by the great Misbah

Goes to show how Misbah can be detrimental to Pak.

Last time he kicked out Mickey and this time it was Hafeez let’s see what this prof clown can do , he is yet to win a match since taken charge.

 

[MenInG]

These NZ grounds look like your local parks where toddlers celebrate their birthdays. Any runs scored here should not be taken too seriously.

Which makes it worse when you can't score runs on these grounds!

 

[BouncerGuy]

If our players cannot clear a 47-meter boundary then how are they going to clear other grounds of the world?

 

[moghul]

I can never fathom how Azam was selected?
For Gods sake man, you're privileged to play for your country, out of 230 million you're one of 11 on the park.
Have some respect for yourself, us and the country, and lose some pounds!

todays was Azam's best inning , he equaled his highest score in 8 matches he has played so far , 10 runs.