LAHORE: Silence engulfed the fully-packed Gaddafi Stadium as Ben Sears punched into the air and Fakhar Zaman hung his head, walking dejected towards the pavilion.

With notions on the rise that Fakhar’s time as a Pakistan player was over, the left-hander was featuring for the first time in the penultimate of the five-match Twenty20 International series here on Thursday.

And he was standing tall while all his colleagues failed to negotiate with a 179-run target set by a third-string New Zealand side. After Pakistan had fallen to 80-4 by the halfway stage, Fakhar, with Iftikhar Ahmed’s support, had kept the hosts alive with his trademark power-hitting on a slow surface.

But soon after Iftikhar lofted a drive into the hands of James Neesham at deep cover to give pacer William O’Rourke his third wicket in the 17th over, Fakhar uncharacteristically flicked Sears directly to Dean Foxcroft at the square-leg boundary to find his dreams of a resurgent win for Pakistan shattered with 61 off 45 balls against his name.

There was still hope, but a special effort was required. And was expected from Imad Wasim. The veteran, however, had to see off Abbas Afridi — to a horrific run-out — and Usama Mir at the other end.

With the four brave boundaries that he hit, all Imad could do was to reduce the distance between Pakistan and a win to four runs. For New Zealand, the victory meant they could not lose the series if not win it. Pakistan, meanwhile, have a plethora of questions as they build up towards the T20 World Cup.

After pacers Abbas and Mohammad Amir had restricted New Zealand from piling up bigger total, Pakistan’s show in the powerplay was poor as they lost three wickets — those of captain Babar Azam, his opening partner Saim Ayub and Usman Khan — for 47 runs while the field restrictions prevailed.

Fakhar took up the rescue mission, and the southpaw got going with a towering six over square leg off a half-tracker by leg-spinner Ish Sodhi before placing him intelligently through point for four more in the ninth over.

But right when a partnership between Fakhar and Shadab Khan was taking a direction, the latter holed New Zealand captain and off-spinner Michael Bracewell out to Neesham at deep midwicket to leave Pakistan needing 99 to win in the last 10 overs.

New Zealand kept it tight with the ball hardly coming onto the bat until in the 14th over, Fakhar launched Bracewell over long-on for six before Iftikhar cleared long-off for another as Pakistan hoped for recovery.

Fakhar lifted Duffy over long-off two overs later to bring up his half-century in 38 balls before losing Iftikhar and then falling himself to effectively kill Pakistan’s hopes.

Put into bat first on a belter of a surface, New Zealand got off to an explosive start before the Pakistan bowlers put the brakes on the flow of runs in the latter stages of the innings.

The major damage from the BlackCaps’ side was caused by openers Tom Blundell and Tim Robinson, who smashed 28 off 15 and 51 off 26 respectively.

But then Abbas stood out for Pakistan with three wickets for 20 runs in three overs, while Amir responded to a beating in the first over by conceding only 18 runs in his next three.

Blundell and Robinson had boosted the visitors to 54-1 by the end of the powerplay, on the last ball of which Blundell fell to Zaman Khan.

The incoming Foxcroft was dropped by spinner Imad off his own bowling when he was playing at four. Robinson continued the attack and brought up his 50 in 34 balls at almost the halfway stage, with New Zealand cruising at 93-1.

The right-hander, however, gave away his wicket in the very next over, skying a slower one by Abbas for Iftikhar to take a well-judged catch at the long-on boundary.

New Zealand were barely moved by Robinson’s dismissal as the incoming Mark Chapman authoritatively cut Abbas for a boundary on the very first ball that he faced before Foxcroft used his feet brilliantly to dispatch Usama for two sixes in the next over.

Amid the fireworks by the BlackCaps, Shadab pulled up a spectacular fielding effort to dismiss Chapman off Iftikhar’s off-spin. A livewire of a fielder, Shadab dived to his left to take a one-handed catch at cover as the left-hander made room in an attempt to hit Iftikhar.

Pakistan struck again in the next over when Foxcroft holed Usama out to Fakhar at the deep mid-wicket boundary. Bracewell also fell to a decent catch by Iftikhar at the long-on boundary again, becoming Abbas’ second wicket in the penultimate over.

Abbas followed that up with a perfect yorker to castle Josh Clarkson before Amir took deceived Sodhi to take his only wicket on the last ball of the New Zealand innings.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND:

T. Robinson c Iftikhar b Abbas51

T. Blundell c Usama b Zaman28

D. Foxcroft c Fakhar b Usama34

M. Chapman c Shadab b Iftikhar8

J. Neesham not out11

M. Bracewell c Iftikhar b Abbas27

J. Clarkson b Abbas0

I. Sodhi c Iftikhar b Amir5

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, NB-1, W-11)14

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs)178

DID NOT BAT: Jacob Duffy, Ben Sears, William O’Rourke

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-56 (Blundell), 2-94 (Robinson), 3-128 (Chapman), 4-132 (Foxcroft), 5-169 (Bracewell), 6-169 (Clarkson), 7-178 (Sodhi)

BOWLING: Imad 4-0-32-0 (4w), Amir 4-0-32-1 (3w), Zaman 3-0-35-1 (1w, 1nb), Abbas 3-0-20-3 (1w), Usama 4-0-43-1, Iftikhar 2-0-14-1 (2w)

PAKISTAN:

Saim Ayub c Clarkson b O’Rourke20

Babar Azam c Foxcroft b O’Rourke5

Usman Khan c Duffy b Sears16

Fakhar Zaman c Foxcroft b Sears61

Shadab Khan c Neesham b Bracewell7

Iftikhar Ahmed c Neesham b O’Rourke23

Imad Wasim not out22

Abbas Afridi run out1

Usama Mir b Neesham5

Mohammad Amir not out1

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-8)13

TOTAL (for eight wickets, 20 overs)174

DID NOT BAT: Zaman Khan

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-13 (Babar), 2-40 (Saim), 3-46 (Usman), 4-79 (Shadab), 5-138 (Iftikhar), 6-146 (Fakhar), 7-151 (Abbas), 8-165 (Usama)

BOWLING: Duffy 4-0-42-0 (2w), O’Rourke 4-0-27-3, Sears 4-0-27-2, Sodhi 2-0-21-0, Bracewell 4-0-31-1 (4w), Neesham 2-0-21-1 (2w)

RESULT: New Zealand won by four runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: William O’Rourke

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2024