Pak vs NZ: Pakistan elect to bowl after winning toss against Kiwis in second T20I

HAMILTON: Pakistan won the toss and elected to bowl first in the second T20I against New Zealand being played at Seddon Park, Hamilton on Sunday.

The Green Shirts named an unchanged playing XI from the first match which they lost by 46 runs. 

On the other hand, the Black Caps replaced Matt Henry with Mitchell Santner, who was ruled out of the first T20I with a last-minute injury.

The home side possesses a 1-0 lead for the five-match T20I series.

“Abbas [Afridi] debut was a positive sign, hope he continues in that manner. We have to improve more in fielding, this wicket looks fine, ground measurement is decent and this match will be good, going with an unchanged team,” Shaheen said after winning the toss.

New Zealand’s skipper, Kane Williamson, confirmed the inclusion of the left-arm off-spinner Santner.

“I thought the first half was good, bowlers executed their plans well. We start again and go back to what’s in front of us, different venues and different conditions. Mitchell Santner comes in for Matt Henry,” Williamson said.

The Green Shirts disappointingly started the five-match series as they were beaten by the Kiwis in a one-sided encounter in Auckland on Friday. 

Despite a brilliant start provided by Saim Ayub’s remarkable knock as the left-handed batter scored 27 off just 8, the Green Shirts crumbled in their chase and couldn’t convert that into a win.

Fakhar Zaman (15 off 10), Iftikhar Ahmed (24 off 17) and Azam Khan (10 off 9) were the Men in Green’s underperformers with the bat.

Meanwhile, former skipper Babar Azam top-scored for the losing side by scoring 57 runs off 35 balls but his efforts were not enough in front of the mammoth target set by the Black Caps.

Tim Southee, who completed his 150th T20I wicket, picked three wickets while Adam Milne and Ben Sears got two each.

Meanwhile, for New Zealand, Daryl Mitchell and Kane Williamson were New Zealand’s best performers with the bat as the two scored 57 and 61 runs respectively.

Williamson was given a life at 11 as he was dropped by Babar Azam. The Kiwi skipper took full advantage of the chance and ended up scoring a fantastic half-century.

Although the 33-year-old didn’t play with a massive strike rate (135.71), he did manage to provide room for other players like Finn Allen (35 off 15) and Mitchell (61 off 27) who breathe fire with their bat and scored runs with the strike rates of 233 and 255 respectively.

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (wk), Aamer Jamal, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi (c), Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf

New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (c), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears