RAWALPINDI: Heavy rain and a subsequent hailstorm forced the abandonment of the the fourth T20 Inter­national between Pakis­tan and New Zealand here at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

New Zealand were close to the end of their innings, having been put into bat, when showers forced covers to be brought onto the pitch. In a matter of minutes, a hailstorm turned the outfield white with ground staff forced to take refuge in the covers.

There was little chance of a resumption and the match was eventually called off with New Zealand having made 164-5 off 18.5 overs with Mark Chapman unbeaten on 71 off 42 balls with 10 fours and one six.

The left-handed Chapman, who played shots across the park, shared two half-century stands with Chad Bowes who raised his maiden T20 fifty and Rachin Ravindra.

Pakistan lead the five-match series 2-1 and New Zealand, who had edged a thriller to hit back in the third game after losing the opening two, would feel undone by the elements after they had put on a decent score on the board with seven deliveries of their innings still remaining.

New Zealand attacked from the first ball and although Imad Wasim (3-19) ran through the top-order, picking a wicket in each of his first three overs — getting skipper Tom Latham caught, cleaning up one-drop Will Young and having Daryl Mitchell stumped, Bowes (54) and Chapman stood firm to defy Pakistan.

Bowes hit seven fours and one towering six off Shadab Khan in his 38-ball knock, sharing a 54-run stand with Chapman, before Shah­een Shah Afridi held on to a superb return catch to dismiss him.

Chapman though was in inspired form and led New Zealand’s acceleration towards the end of the innings, driving and cutting Haris Rauf for consecutive fours in the 16th over and getting three fours off three balls in the 18-run 17th off Zaman Khan.

He then got his first six when he launched Haris over midwicket and just after the pacer removed Rachin Ravindra, who had contributed just eight in a 56-run stand for the fifth wicket with Chapman, the heavens opened up.

A hailstorm followed before the umpires decided there was no chance of a resumption with huge puddles having formed in the outfield.

SCOREBOARD

NEW ZEALAND:

T. Latham c Haris b Imad 13

C. Bowes c&b Shaheen 54

W. Young b Imad 6

D. Mitchell st Rizwan b Imad 3

M. Chapman not out 71

R. Ravindra c Babar b Haris 8

EXTRAS (LB-4, NB-1, W-4) 9

TOTAL (for five wkts, 18.5 overs) 164

DID NOT BAT: A. Milne, M. Henry, I. Sodhi, C. McConchie, I. Sodhi.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-24 (Latham), 2-44 (Young), 3-54 (Mitchell), 4-108 (Bowes), 5-164 (Ravindra),

BOWLING: Shaheen 4-0-40-1 (2w), Zaman 3-0-32-0 (2w, 1nb), Imad 4-0-19-3, Shadab 3-0-25-0, Haris 3.5-0-35-1, Faheem 1-0-9-0.

PAKISTAN: Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Iftikhar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Zaman Khan.

RESULT: Match abandoned.

SERIES: Pakistan lead the five match series 2-1.

UMPIRES: Faisal Afridi (Pakistan), Rashid Riaz (Pakistan)

TV UMPIRE: Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

MATCH REFEREE: Ali Naqvi (Pakistan)

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2023