New Zealand Secures Decisive 2-1 Series Lead with Robinson’s Heroics and O’Rourke’s Brilliance
New Zealand emerged victorious over Pakistan, claiming a crucial 2-1 lead in the series.
Robinson’s stellar fifty and O’Rourke’s exceptional three-wicket haul steered New Zealand to an unassailable position. Pakistan’s 3 for 20 from Abbas Afridi and 45 balls for 61 from Fakhar Zaman were in vain.
Pakistan 174 for 8 (Fakhar 61, O’Rourke 3-27, Sears 2-27) lost to New Zealand 178 for 7 (Robinson 51, Foxcroft 34, Abbas 3-20) by a margin of four runs.
On Thursday, Pakistan failed to pursue the same target in Lahore, four days after failing to protect 178 in Rawalpindi. New Zealand’s bowling arsenal, especially the pace combination of Ben Sears and Will O’Rourke, bowled with discipline and won the match against Pakistan by four runs to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Pakistan lost early wickets while chasing a target of 179, falling to 46 for 3 before the powerplay ended. Pakistan’s chances of winning were only preserved by a passionate display from their longtime rival Fakhar Zaman. After joining the team, Fakhar scored a brilliant 45 off of 45 balls, including three sixes, but Pakistan’s doom was sealed when he and an off-colour Iftikhar Ahmed fell in back-to-back overs.
But because to Imad Wasim, Pakistan managed to hold the match to the very final ball. Jimmy Neesham played a cagey final over, having to defend 17 balls, and Pakistan needed six balls to win, their scythed blow behind point not enough to complete the heist.
Prior to this, Pakistan had included New Zealand, making five changes to the team with the return of Mohammad Amir, Imad, and Zaman Khan. However, New Zealand delivered the decisive opening blows when Tom Blundell and Tim Robinson exploited the bowlers during the powerplay, taking the score to 56 in the first five overs.
Pakistan was able to partly contain New Zealand after Blundell was out, but Robinson’s explosive knock—he scored 51 off 36 before being removed by Abbas Afridi—put New Zealand in a dominating position at the midway point.
Despite Imad and Amir’s impressive final-inning performances, New Zealand lost the match, but their bowlers’ effectiveness indicated that they had done just enough to hold Pakistan at bay.
Pakistan implemented modifications in the fast-bowling division, as both Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi were left out. Amir replaced him, but Abbas was the most impressive as he bowled some of the hardest overs and finished with both wickets and credit. Following a first over in which he was the target of a powerplay by New Zealand, he came back and gave an instant, much needed breakthrough when the explosive Robinson miscued him into the night sky.
Abbas’s last over, the penultimate over of the innings, was the best of the lot for some reason, even though he wasn’t asked to score his entire quota. Abbas took two wickets and gave up only five runs with a combination of cutters, hard lengths, and brilliant yorkers while New Zealand was being hauled back. Babar Azam might have wondered why he hadn’t employed Abbas for the entire four innings after seeing his 3 for 20 stats.
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Perhaps fitting for an all-rounder like Shadab Khan, who hasn’t bowled a single delivery in a T20I innings, is the fact that he was the driving force behind Pakistan’s best fielding performance. Mark Chapman, Pakistan’s go-to man on trips such as this one, hit a wide ball over mid-off in the 14th over of the New Zealand innings. At least that was his belief.
Shadab shifted to his left and leaped skyward with a deadly feline grace. He was holding on to the ball with his left hand when the ball’s speed pushed his right hand off. The crowd was in disbelief for some moments before realizing what had happened, but it hindered New Zealand’s efforts to reduce death rates.
The New Zealand team in Pakistan has a Super Smash vibe to it, especially with the seam-bowling combination of Sears and O’Rourke. Although O’Rourke had not yet made his T20I debut and Sears had played eleven T20Is prior to this tour, the two were crucial in putting an early stop to Pakistan’s attack.
O’Rourke struck in his opening over, luring Babar into a cover drive, and the extra bounce saw him paddle it to cover-point on the full while Pakistan was concentrating on Jacob Duffy. In the first over, Saim Ayub, the other opener, was also removed by him.
When he forced Usman Khan out of Pakistan, Sears kept New Zealand going strong. Michael Bracewell relied on the pair to apply pressure when necessary because they were able to keep the runs quiet at the same time. This pattern persisted throughout the innings. After being introduced later, the two combined for figures of 8-0-54-5, giving their captain the wickets of Iftikhar and Fakhar to end the match.
