Pakistan vs New Zealand, ICC World Twenty20 – 2012

Before the Men in Green (Pakistan) take on the Men in Light Green (Bangladesh) tonight, let us take a quick recap of Pakistan’s first match against New Zealand in the ICC World Twenty20. We wish Team Pakistan all the best for tonight’s match. Go and make us proud again!

Match Summary:

Pakistan: 177 for 6 (Jamshed 56, Hafeez 43, Southee 2-31)

New Zealand: 164 for 9 (Nicol 33, Ajmal 4-30)

Result: Pakistan win by 13 runs.

“Sweep kaenu maar riya hai? Outside off stump ball thi (Why are you sweeping? The ball was outside off stump).”

These were the Skipper Hafeez’s words in the practice session a day before the big match, while giving directions to Sohail Tanvir.

“Thanks to Almighty Allah, the boys have done well.”

These were Hafeez’s words after the big match between Pakistan and New Zealand.

The most awaited match for the Pakistanis as it was the first match of Pakistan in the ICC World Twenty20 was rather a tough one, and both sides were ready to face the challenge from the other side. New Zealand had an upper hand due to their enormous victory over Bangladesh in their first match.

[Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Nazir put up a partnership of 47 runs for the first wicket after Pakistan chose to bat first.]

Interestingly, Pakistan managed to take this victory. It was certainly an uphill task for them. The batting line-up was once again a disappointment despite an extra-ordinary innings of 56 runs from just 35 deliveries by Nasir Jamshed, including 2 fours and 4 massive sixes. A fair contribution was put in by the Skipper Mohammad Hafeez himself who was dropped on 0 in the slips by Ross Taylor. Hafeez then decided not to look back and gave 43 runs to the scoreboard from 38 deliveries, including 2 fours and 2 huge sixes. Imran Nazir gave a handy 25 runs while maintaining a strike rate of 125.5.

However, the most expectations were from Kamran Akmal who played an exceptional innings in the warm-up match against India, but was certainly unlucky in this match and couldn’t stay for long at the crease. Shahid Afridi gave a fair contribution as he managed to score some runs from his bat after being consistently out-of-form. He managed to score a few boundaries after which Pakistan was able to reach a total of 177 runs until he was caught by Williamson in deep-cover. Umar Akmal was great as his cameo really chipped in to the score making it a total of 177 runs for Pakistan to defend, and 178 for New Zealand to chase.

[Nasir Jamshed scored a handful 56 runs.]

At the first sight, it wasn’t a heavy total that could bring the opposition under pressure, but with a world class bowling attack that included Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Shahid Afridi, and Mohammad Hafeez, any batting side could tremble. The same happened to New Zealand. They started off slowly as Mohammad Hafeez opened the bowling for Pakistan with his off-spin. Though wicket-less, Hafeez maintained his economy rate under 4, which is exceptional when it comes to Twenty20.

[Rob Nicol scored 33 runs in a 53 runs opening stand in chase of Pakistan’s 178 runs.]

The star of the show, however, was none other than “Apna Jadugar” (Our Magician), Saeed Ajmal. Taking wickets at crucial stages, Ajmal once
again proved that we are fortunate to have him in the team. With exceptional bowling figures of 4-30, Ajmal was certainly the Man of the Match for me. The fielding was fair as we didn’t get to see sloppy fielding, though we did miss a few run-out chances. Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir were highly expensive with the ball, though Tanvir did manage to take a wicket. Tanvir’s economy rate was 11.00 and Arafat’s economy rate was 12.00.

The match was not easy for Team Pakistan as the Kiwi players came out very strong after losing a few wickets. Rob Nicol, Brendon McCullum, and Ross Taylor played the major role in New Zealand’s batting side. In the 17^th over of New Zealand’s innings, the match was almost in their hands, but once again, the day was saved by The Magician, Ajmal.

Nasir Jamshed for his amazing performance of 56 runs from 35 deliveries received the Man of the Match award.

[Ajmal, the star of the show, with bowling figures of 4-30.]

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