DUNEDIN: New Zeal­and’s openers went on a six-hitting blitz on Tuesday to thrash Pakistan by five wickets and go 2-0 up in their Twenty20 series.

The home side reached 137-5 with 11 balls to spare in Dunedin to take control of the five-match series after Pakistan posted 135-9 off 15 overs as captain Sal­m­an Ali Agha made 46 in a rain-reduced second match.

New Zealand’s highlight was a ferocious opening stand between Tim Seifert and Finn Allen in which seven of the first eight scoring shots were sixes.

Remarkably, Seifert played out a maiden off Shaheen Shah Afridi’s opening over before Allen cleared the small Unive­rsity Oval boundary on the first, third and sixth balls of the second over, bowled by Mohammad Ali.

Seifert then smashed 26 off Shaheen’s second over, including sixes from the first two and the last two deliveries as New Zealand raced to 44-0.

Seifert, who top-scored with 44 in the nine-wicket win in Christchurch on Sunday, departed on 45 off 22 balls.

New Zealand began their innings needing 136 runs from 90 balls. By the end of the five-over power play that target had been reduced to 70 runs from 60 balls.

New Zealand were 87-2 when Allen followed Seif­ert to the pavilion in the seventh over for 38 off 16, with the openers hammering five sixes each.

“There’s not too much conversation out there to be fair,” Seifert said. “It’s just about backing our ski­lls and putting pressure on the bowlers when we can.”

White-ball specialist Allen said both batsmen are naturally big-hitters and took a simple mindset into the run chase.

“We just looked to be positive, try and get ahead of the chase early and make it easy for our middle order to finish it off,” said Allen, who was confident they could run down the target.

“It’s kind of hard to assess in a 15-over game but defending out here is pretty tough. Those are small boundaries so the ball tends to fly a bit here, so I think maybe 170 would have been competitive.”

Four New Zealand wickets fell in the space of four overs midway through the chase before Mitch Hay’s unbeaten 21 made the outcome safe and Michael Bracewell hit a four off Jahandad Khan for the winning runs.

New Zealand won the toss and was eager to bowl first on a pitch at the University Oval which had been covered and looked fresh with patches of grass.

Jacob Duffy, who took 4-14 in the series-opener which New Zealand won by nine wickets on Sunday, rem­oved Hasan Nawaz with the fourth ball of the match.

The New Zealand bowlers were too full at first and Pakistan reached 19-1 before Ben Sears came on in the fourth over and dismissed Mohammad Haris with his first delivery.

Sears, who missed the Champions Trophy with injury, used bounce effectively and Haris sliced his first delivery to Duffy at third man.

Pakistan were 36-2 after the five-over power play.

Salman took 12 runs including a 75-metre six from the sixth over bowled by Jimmy Neesham, lifting Pakistan to 48-2.

But spinner Ish Sodhi dismissed Irfan Khan (11) and Khushdil Shah (2) with the fourth and sixth balls of the seventh over as Pakistan slipped to 52-4.

Salman stepped up the pace, taking 10 from the eighth over bowled by Sears and 13 from the ninth bowled by Sodhi which lifted Pakistan to 76-4.

But he fell in the next over after a 28-ball knock that featured four fours and three sixes, caught by Mark Chapman at deep mid-wicket off Sears.

Shadab Khan (26 off 14) took up the attack, hitting Sears for six in the 10th over while 14 came from the 11th over bowled by Bracewell. He hit a six and a four from Duffy in the 12th before holing out to cow corner.

Shaheen made 22 from 14 balls as Pakistan added 25 runs from the last three overs.

“It was a better game than last game,” Salman said. “We batted better but we still need to be better finishers.”

New Zealand can wrap up the series if victorious in game three in Auckland on Friday.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Haris c Duffy b Sears 11

Hasan Nawaz c Chapman b Duffy 0

Salman Ali Agha c Chapman b Sears 46

Irfan Khan c Sears b Sodhi 11

Khushdil Shah c Hay b Sodhi 2

Shadab Khan c Mitchell b Duffy 26

Abdul Samad c Mitchell b Neesham 11

Jahandad Khan c Foulkes b Neesham 0

Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 22

Haris Rauf run out 1

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-2) 5

TOTAL (for nine wickets, 15 overs) 135

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Ali

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-1 (Hasan), 2-19 (Haris), 3-50 (Irfan), 4-52 (Khushdil), 5-76 (Salman), 6-110 (Shadab), 7-111 (Jahandad), 8-114 (Samad), 9-135 (Haris)

BOWLING: Duffy 3-0-20-2 (1w), Zakary 3-0-32-0, Sears 3-0-23-2, Neesham 3-0-26-2 (1w), Sodhi 2-0-17-2, Bracewell 1-0-14-0

NEW ZEALAND:

T. Seifert c Shaheen b Ali 45

F. Allen lbw b Jahandad 38

M. Chapman c Jahandad b Khushdil 1

D. Mitchell c Shadab b Haris 14

J. Neesham c Samad b Haris 5

M. Hay not out 21

M. Bracewell not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-1, W-4) 8

TOTAL (for five wickets, 13.1 overs) 137

DID NOT BAT: Z. Foulkes, B. Sears, I. Sodhi, J. Duffy

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-66 (Seifert), 2-87 (Allen), 3-91 (Chapman), 4-97 (Neesham), 5-132 (Mitchell)

BOWLING: Shaheen 3-1-31-0, Ali 2-0-34-1 (1w, 1nb), Khushdil 3-0-16-1 (1w), Haris 3-0-20-2 (1w), Jahandad 1.1-0-23-1, Shadab 1-0-10-0 (1w)

RESULT: New Zealand won by five wickets.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Tim Seifert

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2025