Pakistan cruised to their second consecutive victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 by defeating New Zealand at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium earlier tonight. The Babar Azam-led outfit chased a 135-run target in 18.4 overs with five wickets in hand.
Like the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 match against Team India, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first. New Zealand got off to a decent start as Martin Guptill had a 36-run opening partnership with Daryl Mitchell.
However, Pakistan did not allow the Kiwis to build a big partnership after dismissing Guptill. None of the Kiwi batters could touch the 30-run mark in the first innings.
Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf was the wrecker-in-chief, returning with figures of 4/22 in his spell of four overs. He registered the first four-wicket haul of his T20 World Cup career tonight in Sharjah.
Chasing 135 to win, Pakistan lost Babar Azam in the sixth over. Mohammad Rizwan held one end and scored 33 runs off 34 deliveries, but neither Fakhar Zaman nor Mohammed Hafeez could contribute much. Imad Wasim departed to the pavilion as well after scoring 11 runs.
Pakistan were down to 87/5 after 14.5 overs. Ish Sodhi picked up two wickets, while Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult and Tim Southee scalped a wicket each for the Blackcaps. It seemed like the Kiwis would pull off a win in their T20 World Cup 2021 opener.
However, an unbeaten 48-run sixth-wicket partnership between Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali denied New Zealand a victory. Malik scored 26 runs off 20 balls, while Ali raced to 27 off just 12 deliveries.
Best memes from the T20 World Cup 2021 match between Pakistan and New Zealand
Fans enjoyed the T20 World Cup match between Pakistan and New Zealand. Here are the top memes from the game:
Pehly wo toss jeete gay or tumhe batting ki dawat dengy or phir jo humare sath kia wo kare gy#PakvsNz https://t.co/1CfAkEPcTm
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