LAHORE: Saim Ayub provided the impetus with the bat on his home debut before pacer Haris Rauf took centrestage as Pakistan made short work of New Zealand in the first Twenty20 International at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday.

Shorn of their frontline players due to their commitments in the Indian Premier League, the tourists were blown away in the opener of the five-match series with Pakistan cruising home by 88 runs.

Saim’s 28-ball 47, featuring two towering sixes and six fours, after Pakistan’s formidable opening pair of captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan had been dismissed inside five overs helped Pakistan post 182 with Fakhar Zaman providing able support by also scoring 47.

New Zealand pacer Matt Henry (3-30) grabbed a hat-trick, the third of the piece coming four overs apart, but Pakistan’s total proved well beyond the tourists’ reach as they folded for 94, with Haris picking 4-18.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN:

Mohammad Rizwan lbw Milne 8

Babar Azam b Milne 9

Fakhar Zaman c Chapman b Sodhi 47

Saim Ayub run out (Neesham) 47

Shadab Khan c Latham b Henry 5

Iftikhar Ahmed c Latham b Henry 0

Imad Wasim c Henry b Neesham 16

Faheem Ashraf c&b Lister 22

Shaheen Shah Afridi c Bowes b Henry 1

Haris Rauf c Neesham b Lister 11

Zaman Khan not out 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, NB-1, W-7) 16

TOTAL (all out, 19.5 overs) 182

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14 (Rizwan), 2-30 (Babar), 3-109 (Saim), 4-123 (Shadab), 5-123 (Iftikhar), 6-131 (Fakhar), 7-159 (Imad), 8-160 (Shaheen), 9-181 (Faheem).

BOWLING: Henry 4-0-32-3 (2w), Milne 4-0-51-2 (2w, 1nb), Lister 3.5-0-30-2 (1w), Neesham 3-0-18-1, Sodhi 4-0-34-1 (1w), Ravindra 1-0-9-0.

NEW ZEALAND:

T. Latham lbw Haris 20

C. Bowes lbw Zaman 1

W. Young b Shaheen 2

D. Mitchell c Haris b Faheem 11

M. Chapman c Zaman b Shadab 34

J. Neesham c (sub) b Haris 15

R. Ravindra b Haris 2

A. Milne c Iftikhar b Imad 3

I.Sodhi not out 3

M. Henry c Rizwan b Imad 0

B. Lister b Haris 0

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (all out, 15.3 overs) 94

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-6 (Bowes), 2-13 (Young), 3-29 (Mitchell), 4-56 (Latham), 5-75 (Chapman), 6-88 (Neesham), 7-89 (Ravindra), 8-91 (Milne), 9-91 (Henry).

BOWLING: Shaheen 2-0-11-1 (2w), Zaman 2-0-7-1, Faheem 2-0-17-1, Haris 3.3-0-18-4 (1w), Iftikhar 2-0-10-0, Shadab 3-0-29-1, Imad 2-0-2-2.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2023