Babar Azam led Pakistan’s dream of winning the ongoing New Zealand tour of Pakistan 2024 series has been scattered after the team faced a narrow 4 runs defeat in Lahore.
A total of 5 T20Is has been scheduled to be played during the New Zealand tour of Pakistan 2024 between April 18 and 27 across two different venues in Pakistan.
The first match which was played on April 18, ended with no result after rain intervened the game. Pakistan won the next game by 7 wickets but the visitors bounced back with a victory in the 3rd match of the series.
With a victory in the 4th match in Lahore, New Zealand took the lead while Pakistan were forced to win the fifth and final T20I match to level the series.
After losing the fourth T20I by just 4 runs, Pakistan captain Babar Azam praised his bowlers for restricting the visitors below 180. After New Zealand were forced to bat first, their batters made an aggressive start and went on to score 93 runs for 1 wicket loss at the end of 10 overs.
But Pakistan bowlers with their impressive bowling spell made a pullback and restricted the team to score 178 runs for 7 wickets at the end of 20 overs.
“I think we restricted them in bowling really well. We were expecting 190-200 but the bowlers stuck to their plans, it was chaseable, but we had a batting collapse,” Babar said.
The Pakistan captain went on to praise Fakhar Zaman’s performance and also expressed disappointment over losing key wickets during the powerplay. Pakistan lost their top 3 batters inside the power player.
Fakhar Zaman scored 61 runs off 45 deliveries and pushed Pakistan towards a safer zone but without much contribution from the tailenders Pakistan’s victory slipped from their hand.
“We lost three-four wickets in the powerplay but Fakhar’s innings was outstanding. We wanted to chase it with positive intent but we were unable to do so,” Babar said.
“When you lose back-to-back wickets, you need a few overs to catch up but that we got derailed in that period. It was a different surface; we were coming back after a long time, average score is 190 so I think we restricted them well,” he further added.
Due to various injuries, Babar was forced to make some changes in their playing 11 for the 4th T20I vs New Zealand. Despite losing the game, the Pakistan captain believes that this will help them to build a strong squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024.
“There were some changes due to injuries but youngsters put in a great effort. Our plan was to give proper opportunity to (test our) bench strength and see where we stand and we wanted to play different combinations. Hopefully, we will have the team ready come the time of World Cup,” he concluded.
Thrilling victory for New Zealand as they edge past Pakistan in a nail-biter, leading the five-match series 2-1
Scoreboard: https://t.co/uKucAI2vCQ#PAKvNZ
Photo Courtesy: Shafiq Malik pic.twitter.com/xtOhaNuzZW
— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) April 25, 2024
The final T20I match of the series will be played on April 27 in Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The hosts need to win this game to level the series while New Zealand will put all their effort into winning the game to lift the trophy.
