AUCKLAND: Opener Hasan Nawaz struck a record-breaking maiden century Friday as Pakistan crushed New Zealand by nine wickets in the third Twenty20 to keep the series alive.

After scoring a duck in each of the two opening games — the first innings’ of his international career — Hasan rebounded with a stunning 105 not out in Auckland as the tourists raced to 207-1 in response to New Zealand’s 204 with four full overs to spare to inflict the host’s heaviest T20 loss in terms of wickets.

The 23-year-old’s ton came off 44 balls, the fastest by any Paki­stan player in a T20 international.

It ensured his team reached the target with four full overs to spare, in a stark reversal of form after heavy losses in Christchurch and Dunedin.

Hasan put his early failures behind him with a sparkling knock featuring shots all around the wicket, including a series of audacious ramp shots.

He was supported in his first century by captain Salman Ali Agha, who made 51 from 31 balls in an unbroken partnership of 133 for the second wicket.

Hasan admitted he was worried about his selection prospects after two failures and thanked Salman and vice-captain Shadab Khan for showing faith in his ability.

“The way I got out in the first two matches, I was very disheartened, but the captain and Shadab supported me, told me I am a match-winning player and that helped me,” he said.

“I wanted to score my first run in international cricket, that’s what I was thinking. After I scored one run, the pressure was released and I wanted to win the game.”

The right-hander peppered the short Eden Park boundaries with 10 fours and seven sixes, bringing up victory with successive fours off Kyle Jamieson in the 16th over.

The first of those shots took Hasan to 100, five balls faster than the previous Pakistan record-holder — Babar Azam against South Africa in 2021.

New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell conceded they had few answers to halt Hasan.

“You’ve got to tip your hat to Nawaz there, the way that he played was unbelievable,” Bracewell said. “It’s pretty tough to defend out here but when a guy plays like that, it’s really tough.”

The Pakistan selectors kept Nawaz and Mohammad Haris at the top of the order, giving them time to acclimatise to New Zealand conditions.

Their opening partnerships pro­­d­uced only one run in each of the first two matches. But on Fri­day they put on 75 for the first wicket, within the six-over power play.

Haris made 41 from 20 balls with four fours and three sixes to get the Pakistan innings off to the rapid start it needed. He hit two sixes from the first over bowled by Kyle Jamieson as Pakistan rushed to 50 from only four overs.

Jamieson, who took 3-8 in the first match, conceded 30 runs from his first two overs.

Pakistan was 124-1 at the midpoint of its innings where New Zealand had been 105-3. The 13th over bowled by Jacob Duffy went for 19 runs including two sixes as Pakistan’s run rate ticked up over 12 per over.

Rotating the strike and taking at least a boundary from each over, Nawaz reached his half century from 26 balls. Salman posted his first T20 international half century from 30 balls.

Earlier, New Zealand looked well placed after Mark Chapman hit a rapid 94 before they were dismissed in their final over. Chapman dominated after New Zealand were asked to bat, tallying 11 fours and four sixes from just 44 balls faced.

The rest of the home side’s batsmen struggled to get going, aside from Bracewell’s 31. Experienced seamer Haris Rauf bowled Bracewell and finished with Pakistan’s best figures of 3-29.

Skipper Salman was satisfied by how Pakistan went about the game to keep the series alive ahead of the fourth T20, which is set to be played in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

“I think it’s an outstanding performance; a full proper game,” he said. “Bowlers started really well; we took early wickets which was missing (earlier).

“The two youngsters batted really well...I thought 200 is par here, it’s a good ground for batting. I just said (to my team-mates), we can chase this down.

“The bowlers did really well, restricting them to 200 was a great effort. We knew it was do or die and we just wanted to enjoy and now looking forward to the next game.”

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND:

T. Seifert c Salman b Haris 19

F. Allen c Haris b Shaheen 0

M. Chapman c Shadab b Shaheen 94

D. Mitchell c Haris b Shadab 17

J. Neesham lbw b Abbas 3

M. Hay b Abrar 9

M. Bracewell b Haris 31

K. Jamieson b Abrar 0

I. Sodhi c M. Haris b Haris 10

J. Duffy c Irfan b Abbas 2

B. Sears not out 7

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-4) 12

TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 204

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Allen), 2-43 (Seifert), 3-98 (Mitchell), 4-135 (Neesham), 5-141 (Chapman), 6-164 (Hay), 7-164 (Jamieson), 8-193 (Bracewell), 9-194 (Sodhi)

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-36-2 (2w), Abrar 3-0-43-2, Haris 4-0-29-3 (1w), Abbas 2.5-0-24-2, Shadab 4-0-33-1, Khushdil 1-0-18-0, Salman 1-0-13-0 (1w)

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Haris c Hay b Duffy 41

Hasan Nawaz not out 105

Salman Ali Agha not out 51

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-5) 10

TOTAL (for one wicket, 16 overs) 207

DID NOT BAT: Irfan Khan, Shadab Khan, Abdul Samad, Khushdil Shah, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed

FALL OF WICKET: 1-74 (M. Haris)

BOWLING: Jamieson 40-0-54-0 (3w), Duffy 3-0-37-1, Sears 4-0-51-0 (1w), Bracewell 2-0-23-0, Sodhi 2-0-28-0, Neesham 1-0-9-0 (1w)

RESULT: Pakistan won the match by nine match.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Hasan Nawaz

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2025