New Zealand are missing some of their top cricketers but despite that, they managed an impressive win over a full-strength Pakistan team in Pakistan. That says a lot about New Zealand’s strength as much as it tells you about Pakistan’s growing problems as an international T20 team. Losing to New Zealand’s ‘B’ has not gone down too well among the fans and the critics of the game in the country. The problems for Pakistan remain the same: ordinary T20 batting, catches getting dropped in the field and bowling woes.
With T20 World Cup 2024 so near, reappointed captain Babar Azam has many gaps to fill. Pakistan cannot become a successful T20 side unless they start batting as per the world standards.
Pakistan statistician Mazher Arshad released a stat which says that in their entire history, Pakistan have produced just one batter with a batting strike rate of over 140 and he was Shahid Afridi, who retired 8 years ago.
He came up with another stat after Sunday night loss, which says that Pakistan scored 54 without any loss in the powerplay but in the next 7 overs, they managed jut 51 runs despite three free hits available for them. Since T20 World Cup, Pakistan have won jst 5 matches out of the 14 played so far.
Babar Azam’s Pakistan was given a reality check by their fans, critics on social media. Check Below.
New Zealand without 16 first-choice players have beaten Pakistan, who are pretty much full strength at home. The concerning part for Pakistan is this performance isn’t one-off. Since the T20 WC in 2022, Pakistan have won just 5 out of 14 matches. #PakvNZ — Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) April 21, 2024
All those calling New Zealand “B” “C” and “D” team and wishing a 5-0 or 4-0 must stand up and eat their words! No team in a T20 format can be taken lightly .. with a Chapman in it #PAKvNZ — Shahid Hashmi (@hashmi_shahid) April 21, 2024
Fielding standards of Pakistan _#PAKvNZ pic.twitter.com/G2FG14WaCZ
— Dhonism (@Dhonismforlife) April 21, 2024
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first. The NZ bowlers pulled things back in style after Pakistan openers Saim Ayub and Babar provided a good start. But while Ayub struck his runs at over 140 strike rate, Babar, Rizwan were playing with a substandard strike rate. Thanks to Irfan Khan’s 20-ball 30 and Shadab Khan’s quickfire 41, Pakistan managed 178 fr 4 in 20 overs.
New Zealand showed that it was a nice track to bat on and go for boundaries as they chased down the target in just 18.2 overs with 7 wickets in hand. Mark Chapman smashed a 42-ball 87 to win the Man of the Match award. The series is now 1-1 after 3 matches. The first game was washed out while Pakistan had won the 2nd match. The series will now conclude in Lahore where the remaining two games will be played.