KARACHI :May 3,2023: Pakistan defeated New Zealand in the third ODI here on Wednesday. The national team has an unbeaten lead of 0-3 in the five-match series against the visiting team.
Pakistan has won the ODI series against New Zealand after 12 years, Pakistan last won the ODI series against New Zealand in 2011.
In this match played at Karachi’s National Bank Cricket Arena, Pakistan set New Zealand a target of 288 runs to win, in pursuit of which the Kiwi team was bowled out for 261 runs.
New Zealand won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first.
When Pakistan’s innings started, Fakhar Zaman, who scored centuries in three consecutive innings, got out after scoring only 19 runs.
A century partnership between opening batsmen Imamul Haq and Babar Azam laid the foundations for a big score for the team.
Babar Azam was dismissed for 145 after scoring his 26th half-century, scoring 54 runs.
The new batsman Abdullah Shafiq could not give an impressive performance today and was the guest of only 19 runs, but Imamul Haq on the other side continued to score runs in a cautious manner.
Imam-ul-Haq was unlucky when he was bowled by Adam Millan at the score of 90 and could not score a century.
Wicketkeeper batsmen Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman scored 32 and 31 runs respectively to bring the team’s score to a better score.
In the closing moments, Shadab Khan scored 21 runs and Muhammad Nawaz scored 11 runs while the entire team scored 287 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.
Matt Henry was the successful bowler for New Zealand, he took 3 wickets. Adam Mullen struck out two while Cole McConchie struck out one.
Chasing the target, the Kiwis also got off to a strong start, with opening batsmen Tom Blundell and Will Young putting on an 83-run partnership.
However, after that, the national bowlers made this easy target difficult for New Zealand by showing nippy bowling and excellent fielding.
Although the New Zealand players contributed to the score, they failed to reach the target.
On behalf of the visiting team, Tom Blundell scored 65 runs and Colin McConchie scored 61 runs while captain Tom Latham scored 45 runs and Will Young scored 33 runs.
The entire New Zealand team was all out after scoring 261 runs in the last over.
On behalf of Pakistan, Muhammad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah took two wickets each, Agha Salman dismissed one player.
Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq was adjudged the best player of the match.
On the occasion of the toss, captain Babar Azam said that 3 changes have been made in the team, the weather in Karachi is hot, they will try to give a target of 290 runs.
Babar Azam had said that Haris Rauf, Ehsanullah and Osama Mir are not being fed today.
Playing XIs:
Pakistan team included captain Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Imamul Haq, Abdullah Shafiq, Muhammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Agha Salman, Muhammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Muhammad Wasim and Naseem Shah.
The New Zealand team included captain Tom Latham, Will Young, Tom Blundell, Daryl Mitchell, Mark Chapman, Henry Nicholls, Cole McConchie, Adam Millen, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi and Matt Henry.
In the ODI series between Pakistan and New Zealand so far, the green shirts have been heavily involved.
Pakistan achieved the target of 289 runs for 5 wickets in the first ODI and achieved the target of 337 runs for only 3 wickets in the second ODI. Zahid Akram Durrani’s national cricket team has been congratulated for winning the ODI series against New Zealand. Speaker and Deputy Speaker said that the national team played a great game in the series, the nation is proud of the talented players of the team. The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly said that it is hoped that the national team will perform similarly in the future.
