Twitter Reactions: The Blackcaps draw the first blood in the ODI series

Pakistan’s problems in the ODI format of the game continues. The team played in this format after over a month post the embarrassing exit in the Asia Cup. However, their fortunes didn’t have seemed to change much in the game against New Zealand. The Blackcaps, who were playing ODI cricket after about eight months, were over the top and won by a huge margin of 47 runs.

Ross Taylor and Tom Latham come to the rescue

The visitors opted to bat first after winning the toss. However, they lost some quick wickets early in the innings. While George Worker was dismissed for 1 run, his partner Colin Munro notched up 29 off 27. Skipper Kane Williamson, on whom there were a lot of expectations looked good initially. But, he ended tossing up a dolly to Mohammad Hafeez at mid-wicket as he misjudged his pull shot very badly.

While the side was 78/3, it was Ross Taylor and Tom Latham who came to the rescue for the Blackcaps. They steadied the ship and added 130 runs together. The right-hander scored 80 and his partner put up 68 runs. But, misery struck again in the form of Shabad Khan who picked up three wickets in the same over. Four wickets overall were lost in eight balls. Shaheen Afridi and Shadab picked four wickets apiece as the Kiwis ended the innings with 266/9.

Trent Boult shines with a brilliant hat-trick

In the chase, Trent Boult has hit Pakistan with such a blow from where it was extremely hard to recover. He accounted for a triple-wicket maiden in the third over of the innings. Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez were dismissed off consecutive balls making it a hat-trick. Imam-ul-Haq, after crawling up to 34 off 46 balls was dismissed by Lockie Ferguson. While Shoaib Malik was dismissed for 30, Shadab Khan fell victim to a disastrous umpiring call.

From here, no one would have thought Pakistan would come any closer to the Kiwis’ total. But, a spirited fightback from Sarfraz Ahmed (64 off 69 balls) and Imad Wasim (50 off 72 balls) helped them get near if not for over the winning line. However, these two falling at the incorrect times resulted in the Blackcaps winning the match by 47 runs. Lokie Ferguson wrapped up things by picking two wickets off the first two balls of the 48th over to bowl out Pakistan for 219 runs.

Trent Boult received a lot of praise from the Twitterati after the hat-trick that he has picked. While he was the centre of attraction, Ross Taylor and Colin Munro also had a fair share of acclaim. Shadab Khan and Afridi with the ball and Sarfraz and Imad with the bat were the best performers from the losing team who had their fans applaud their efforts.

Here are the Twitter reactions from the game:

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