Pakistan and New Zealand engaged in a fierce ODI World Cup match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Pakistan chose to field first after winning the toss in an attempt to take advantage of the favorable circumstances. Batting first, New Zealand amassed a massive 401/6 thanks to a superb combination between Rachin Ravindra (108) and Kane Williamson (95). Williamson’s injury-affected comeback to the team was vital even though he didn’t score a century, and Ravindra achieved his third ODI century of the competition. The Kiwis overcame the formidable 400-run mark thanks to the fast-finishing contributions of Mark Chapman, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchel Santner. Mohammad Wasim Junior of Pakistan stood out with his three-wicket haul.
Stylefully announcing his return, Fakhar Zaman
The removal of Abdullah Shafique was an early blow for Pakistan in their quest of 402. Fakhar Zaman’s incredible century off just 63 balls, however, stunned the Kiwis. The combination of Zaman’s aggressive style and Babar Azam’s solid innings created the conditions for a thrilling chase. Rain caused the game to be temporarily abandoned during the 22nd over. After the break, the game was resumed with a revised DLS goal of 342 in 41 overs. Pakistan was in a favorable position as they were still ten runs ahead of the DLS par total.
Unfortunately, rain again interrupted in the 26th over, with Pakistan at 200/1. Unfortunately, bad weather made it impossible to resume play, hence Pakistan won by 21 runs using the DLS system.
Losing skipper Kane Williamson said:
Obviously a nice first half. Weather played its part but can’t take away from Pakistan. Zaman – the ground wasn’t big enough for him. They played exceptionally well and gave themselves every chance. Match getting shortened brings both teams closer together. Would’ve been nice to have the full 50. Was tricky to protect the shorter side. Full credit, they deserved the result today. I thought the contributions throughout were great. Clearly a very good surface. Can be tough on the bowlers sometimes. Rachin is batting absolutely beautifully. There’s always small margins with the ball. If you get a wicket or two, you can take the short side out of it with the left-right combo. But we couldn’t do that.
Winning captain Babar Azam said:
When we came to the dressing room, just passed message we need good partnerships. Said to Fakhar if he plays 15 overs we’ll be ahead. Back of the mind we knew rain was coming. Full credit to Fakhar. We knew there was a short boundary and utilised it. We’re just trying to give 100 percent. You never know. We’re just going match by match.
POTM Fakhar Zaman said:
We were chasing 400 and that was our plan, just to see off the first 4 overs and thankfully it was my day. To be honest, I was lucky a few times but really enjoyed this innings. We know every game is a do or die for us and we have decided to play aggressively and we are playing with that mind so everybody is just trying to score runs. This is one of the best (knocks in ODI cricket) but I will always rank my 193 in South Africa highly, but I really enjoyed this game and New Zealand are a great side, so definitely one of the best.
We were also praying that we don’t want any more game to happen (while waiting anxiously in the dressing room during the rain break) because it was already 9 and half hours and we knew that DLS would come into the equation. We wanted to play with that aggressive mindset and we will play aggressively in the next game also.
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