ICC World Cup 2019, Match 33: New Zealand vs Pakistan – Who Said What

After going into a slump in the middle of the World Cup, Pakistan have risen like a phoenix from the ashes with sheer authority. Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men are now serious contenders for a berth in the semi-finals of the mega event. The Men in Green brushed aside New Zealand by six wickets at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. For the Kiwis, the defeat brought an end to their winning streak in the tournament.

Neesham and Afridi steal the show

The Black Caps’ innings was a tale of two halves. In the first, the Pakistan bowlers reduced their opponent to 83/5 in 26.2 overs. Colin Munro and Martin Guptill got out cheaply to Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Amir respectively. Thereafter, Afridi sent back Ross Taylor to jolt the Kiwis. The southpaw nipped out Tom Latham as well and was Pakistan’s standout bowler with impressive figures of 10-3-28-3.

Kane Williamson looked determined, having scored 41 off 69, but a beauty from Shadab Khan found his outside edge. Talking about the second half, it belonged to Colin de Grandhomme (64) and James Neesham (97). The all-rounder duo stitched together an awe-inspiring partnership of 132 runs and brought their team back into the game. Their efforts guided New Zealand to a fighting score of 235 in their 50 overs.

Pakistan ends New Zealand’s unbeaten streak

Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson removed the Pakistan openers- Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq to make it an incredible start for the Kiwis. Thereafter, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez weathered the storm and put on 66 valuable runs. Hafeez was looking set on 32 and he played a rash stroke off captain Kane to throw his wicket. Haris Sohail joined Babar in the middle and the duo didn’t allow the pressure to build.

They brought up a century stand off 122 balls to keep the Kiwis at bay. Babar got to his fifty off 65 balls at the other end, Haris continued his good form to get a half-century in 63 balls. With Pakistan in the ascendancy, Babar accomplished his 10th ODI ton off 124 balls and he never allowed New Zealand to stage a comeback. Sohail was brilliant as well, having scored 68 off 76. Sarfaraz hit a four to end the game.

Babar Azam, the Player of the Match, said

I think this is the best (knock of mine in ODIs), because it was a must-win game. Track was a bit slow and also spinning a bit. Idea was always to bat till the end and it worked. When we started, the idea was to play out the fast bowlers, especially Ferguson.

But when Santner came and got the ball to rip, we understood that it’s important to keep him off. Idea was to just be careful against him. Hafeez Bhai told me the same, to gauge the pitch and play sensibly. Whenever we play in England, we get good support and I am glad it’s continuing.

Sarfaraz Ahmed, the Pakistan captain, said

The crowd is always behind the Pakistan team. Thank you very much. Fielding is a very important part. Unfortunately we didn’t do well in the previous matches. We practiced hard. The way we played today, it was a great team effort. All the bowlers did really well and in the end Babar and Haris – one of the finest batting I’ve ever seen. We knew 240 was not an easy target on this pitch.

We just wanted to bat 50 overs. Credit to Babar and Haris, the way they played on this pitch. [On 1992] when the World Cup starts, people think that way. But we’re not thinking like that. Our focus is the next match. We are very confident and hopefully we’ll do well.

Kane Williamson, the New Zealand captain, said

We’ve seen it in our last three games, where the surfaces have offered to the bowlers and made life difficult. We were outplayed by a strong Pakistan side. I think there was a little bit more bounce than we experienced on the same surface we played the other day. The fight that was shown in the middle and back end was good, to get us in a position where we were competitive. But that partnership with Babar and Haris, they took it from us. [Shadab] yeah it was nice wasn’t it?

We tried to soak it up. Thought if we get 230-250, there was a chance. And there was, but they soaked up the pressure and played really nicely. When the threat is spin, especially when the wicket became a lot slower, we were trying to get anybody in there who would rotate the ball. There’s so many games in the round robin that you’re not expecting to win them all. There’s things we need to iron out. We’ll have to adapt a little better than we did today.