Wellington: Opener Colin Munro (49 n o, 43b, 3×4, 2×6) maintained his fine form as New Zealand continued their stellar home summer when they thrashed Pakistan by seven wickets with 25 balls to spare in the opening Twenty20 match here, Monday.
The result extended New Zealand’s winning streak to 13 games across all three formats in the past two months which included five ODIs against Pakistan and a Test series, ODIs and Twenty20s against the West Indies.
Pakistan were in immediate trouble after being sent into bat and were seven down for 53 in the 15th over as stand in captain Tim Southee (3/13) led the dismantling of the Pakistan top order. However, Babar Azam (41, 41b, 1×4, 1×6) and Hasan Ali (23, 12b, 3×6) put on a 30-run partnership to take their team past the 100-run mark as they were all out for 105 in 19.4 over.
Southee’s new ball partner Seth Rance (3/26) playing only in his third match also bowled well to the team’s cause.
In reply, New Zealand had a wobbly start with both Martin Guptill and Glenn Phillips (both, three each) back in the hut with just eight runs on board. Tom Bruce (26, 22b, 3×4, 1×6) along with Munro played some brilliant shots round the park and stitched a 49-run partnership before the former was caught by Fakhar Zaman off Shadab Khan. Then Ross Taylor (22 n o, 13b, 3×4) partnered Munro to take the team through easily.
Brief scores: Pakistan 105 (Babar Azam 41; Tim Southee 3/13, Seth Rance 3/26) lost to New Zealand 106/3 in 15.5 overs (Colin Munro 49 n o; Rumman Raees 2/24) by seven wickets.
agence france-presse
