New Zealand opener Finn Allen had gone berserk against Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi during the first T20I match at Eden Park, Auckland on Friday. After taking a wicket in his first over, Shaheen returned for his second with great energy but Allen through his sensational batting got better of the left-arm pacer. He trashed him for 24 runs in the third over of the New Zealand innings. It all started with a six over deep mid-wicket off a slower first ball. Allen then smashed three fours in a row before hitting a six over long-on. The final delivery was a dot ball but the damage was already done.
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Tim Southee became the first player to 150 wickets in T20Is as New Zealand beat Pakistan by 46 runs in their series opener.
Veteran seam bowler Southee claimed four wickets to pass the milestone and help dismiss the tourists for 180 in the 18th over in response to New Zealand’s imposing 226 for 8, handing them first blood in the five-match series.
Southee’s figures of 4 for 25 were the best of a run-dominated encounter at Eden Park and took him to 151 wickets in T20Is, 11 more than Bangladesh spinner Shakib Al Hasan.
He finished the job as Pakistan’s run chase capitulated after Babar Azam was the seventh wicket to fall in the 17th over, with the former captain having accelerated to 57 off 35 balls to keep his side in contention.
There were starts for openers Saim Ayub (27) and Mohammad Rizwan (25) but Azam struggled to find support from his teammates before being caught at cover by Kane Williamson off Ben Sears‘ bowling.
New Zealand’s boundary-laden innings was the highest Pakistan had conceded in a T20, surpassing the 221-3 England scored in Karachi in 2022.
Daryl Mitchell blasted 61 off 27 balls and captain Williamson’s 57 took 42 balls as New Zealand built on an explosive start from opener Finn Allen (34), who struck 24 runs off the third over, bowled by Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Pakistan’s new-look attack struggled to protect the ground’s notoriously short boundaries, conceding 21 fours and 11 sixes.
Seamer Abbas Afridi impressed in his first international appearance in any format with 3-34 off four overs, although fellow-debutant Usama Mir had his leg spin attacked by Mitchell in particular and finished with 0-51.
Shaheen, who took 3-46, led Pakistan for the first time after Babar forfeited the captaincy in the wake of their failure to make last year’s 50-over Cricket World Cup semi-finals.
New Zealand spin-bowling allrounder Mitchell Santner wasn’t selected after testing positive for Covid-19 earlier in the day.
(With AFP Inputs)
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