T20 World Cup 2021: Match 19, Pakistan vs New Zealand – Who Said What

While no one would have counted them as pure favourites, an air of invincibility seems to have suddenly surrounded Pakistan, who walked home to a five-wicket win against New Zealand in Sharjah to make it two in two. Having defeated India already, this was arguably the only difficult encounter left for Babar Azam’s men in the easier of the two groups. With encounters left against Afghanistan, Scotland and Namibia, Pakistan would feel they have one hand on the semi-final berth already.

Perhaps the biggest concern for them heading into the tournament was their unreliable middle and lower-order. On October 26, it was exactly this portion of their batting that took them across the line after New Zealand stifled them initially. Chasing 135, Pakistan found themselves scoring below run-a-ball for the larger part of their attempt, as Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner dented their top-order.

Unlike the previous game, when both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan looked like men who could do no wrong, the duo could not make the night their own against the Kiwis, as Azam (9 off 11) was cleaned up by Tim Southee to become his 100th T20I scalp, whereas Rizwan (33 off 34) was pinned lbw by Sodhi, who dismissed Fakhar Zaman, too, in the same fashion. When Devon Conway grabbed a blinder off Santner to send back Mohammad Hafeez, the game hung well in balance.

Pakistan found themselves 87/5 when Trent Boult trapped Imad Wasim lbw but that was when Shoaib Malik was joined by Asif Ali. Malik, who struck a couple of fours and a six in his unbeaten knock of 26 off 20, looked fluent already but Ali was dauntless; he smashed three sixes in his 12-ball 27 cameo to seal the game for his side with eight balls to spare – a result that belies the pressure New Zealand bowlers managed to put Pakistan under during their defense of 134.

Earlier in the day, Haris Rauf made the most damage with the ball, bagging no less than four wickets in his quota. After two high-scoring encounters, Sharjah gave a glimpse of what it did in the second leg of the IPL, with the ball gripping and not coming onto the bat the way batters would have liked. That meant the highest any New Zealand batter could manage was 27. Martin Guptill (17 off 20) struggled to accelerate, much like most others on the day.

Kane Williamson, the skipper, has just started to shift gears when he was run-out courtesy of a brilliant throw from Hasan Ali before Conway hung around for a while, scoring 27 off 25. Opener Daryll Mitchell got himself a similar start but perished to Imad Wasim for 27, whereas none amongst Glenn Phillips, Tim Seifert and Santner could get going.

Winning skipper Babar Azam:

Feels great to win and we’ll look to carry forward the confidence. The spinners started off brilliantly, and Haris and Shaheen carried it through. I would like to compliment our fielding, that has carried us through here. I thought we gave 10 runs too many. But this is cricket and it happens. While batting, there were wickets early on and we needed a partnership. Malik showed experience and Asif Ali contributed too. Every match is crucial. There is no easy match. We’ll look to play it day by day and game by game.

Losing skipper Kane Williamson:

It is very disappointing. We were optimistic at the halfway stage. It was going to be really tough, we were a boundary or two at being above par. There were small margins, but we couldn’t nail it at the back end. Credit to Pakistan, thet are a strong side and were very smart. I thought our bowlers were outstanding for 80% of the game. Quite tough to swallow. We were going into the second half, but this is a very goodd Pakistani side and are a team to watch. It is a game of small margins, we go to a different venue against India. We will have conversations and play accordingly. There were a few good decisions, but there are very small margins in these low-scoring games.

Player of the Match Haris Rauf:

 I am happy with the performance, thanks to the team, the fielding unit, they supported the bowlers, the support staff and the fans for all the support they’ve given us. There’s competition in the bowling unit, we have been playing together for two years, myself, Shaheen and Hasan Ali. We talk with each other, assess the conditions and we do get confidence from each other. The wicket of Guptill in the powerplay was the best amongst the four wickets. Thankful to everyone, my family, the way Lahore Qalandars supported me, I’m here today because of them.