Skipper Kane Williamson and Daryl Micthell’s brilliant half-centuries powered New Zealand to post a mammoth score of 226/8 against Pakistan in the opening game of the five-match T20I series at Eden Park, Auckland on Friday.
Chennai Super King’s latest recruit Michell smashed 61 off 27 deliveries, a knock laced with four boundaries and as many maximums while Williamson made 57 off 42, hitting nine fours all over the park. Both the batsman stitched 78 runs partnership for the third wicket, marking New Zealand’s highest T20I total against Pakistan.
Daryl Mitchell scores fabulous fifty
It was the first time when New Zealand team has surpassed 200 run mark against Pakistan in a T20 Internationals. Their previous best score was 196/5 which came at Wellington’s Westpac Stadium in 2016.
After being sent in to bat first, the Black Caps got off to a nervy start as Pakistan’s skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi got the early wicket of opener Devon Conway on the second ball.
In the third over, Finn Allen hit Afridi for 24 runs, the most expensive T20I over ever on his debut as Pakistan skipper. From there, the Kiwis gained the momentum and ended the powerplay at 56 for the loss of two wickets. Allen departed after scoring the explosive 35 off 15.
In the middle overs, Williamson, and Micthell took the command of the scoring run rate. After the duo departs, and then Glenn Philips played a fine cameo of 19 off 11 and Mark Chapman finished the innings scoring 26 off 11. On the back of his finishing kick, the Black Caps went past the 200-run mark in 18.1 overs comfortably.
Chasing the target, Pakistan did get a start from the likes of opener Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, and Iftikhar Ahmed but couldn’t make them count as men in green bundled out on a score of 180 in 18 overs.
Tim Southee was the star performer with the ball, picking four wickets at an economy of 6.20. Adam Milne and Ben Sears also got two wickets each. In the end, hosts secured a convincing victory of 46-runs, taking a lead in five-match series.
