New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 1 run in a close match of Super Eight round of the ongoing Twenty20 world cup 2010. Batting first, New Zealand scored 133 for 7, while Pakistan fell just a run short of the New Zealand total after losing 7 wickets.
Winning the toss Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi decided to bowl first and his pacers justified his decision by picking up early wickets. Mohammad Sami and Abdur Rehman picked up four wickets together early in the New Zealand innings. Among the top order Kiwi batsmen, only Brendon McCullum showed some resistance before falling to Rehman for 33 in the ninth over of the innings.
However, the highest 38 runs came from Captain Vettori’s bat who along with Styris added 40 runs for the 5th wicket, guiding New Zealand towards a descent total. Styris scored 21 runs off 17 balls. Sami, Rehman and Afridi got 2 wickets each.
Chasing 134, Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost 5 top order batsmen at 58. Bond, Mills and Butler exploited the assistance offered by the wicket and did not give much room to the Pakistani batsmen.
However, opener Salman Butt played an excellent innings of 67 off 54 not out, and along with Abdul Razzaq, he built up a useful partnership of 53 runs for the 6th wicket. Razzaq’s 29 off 29 balls helped Pakistan reach very close to the target. Butler was the most successful Kiwi bowlers picking up 3 wickets, while Mills bagged 2 wickets.
No comments:
Post a Comment