Courtesy: PCB
On Friday, March 21, Pakistan chased down a 205-run target in just 16 overs, to register a famous victory by nine wickets in the third T20I of the five-match series at the Eden Park in Auckland. In the run chase, Hasan Nawaz, the right-handed opening batter, who is just 22 years of age, scored his maiden hundred, to ensure that the Men in Green got past the finishing line, making the series interesting at 1-2.
For the unversed, Salman Agha, the captain of Pakistan, won the toss and decided to field first, and Shaheen Afridi picked up the key wicket of Finn Allen in the first over without troubling the scorers, thanks to an incredible catch from Haris Rauf. It led to the arrival of Mark Chapman at the crease, who played a sparkling innings while wickets fell at the other end in Auckland.
The left-handed batter scored 94 runs in just 44 balls with 11 fours and four maximums, to put New Zealand in a very strong position to go well past the 200-run mark. But then, the Pakistan bowlers picked up wickets consistently in the latter part of the BlackCaps innings, to make sure that they were bowled out in 19.5 overs with 204 runs on the board, a total considered par for the course due to the short straight boundaries at the Eden Park.
Haris Rauf was the pick of the bowlers from the Pakistan bowling line up with figures of 3/29 in four overs, while Shaheen Afridi, Abbas Afridi, and Abrar Ahmed took two wickets each. In pursuit of the 205-run target, Pakistan got off to a flyer with the likes of Mohammad Haris and Hasan Nawaz sharing a 74-run stand in just 5.5 overs, to put the team well on their way to winning the match.
Mohammad Nawaz lost his wicket to Jacob Duffy, but not before he scored 41 runs in 20 balls with four fours and three sixes, following which Hasan Nawaz took control of the match alongside captain Salman Agha. These two batters shared an unbroken stand of 133 runs, to take Pakistan past the target with a whopping 24 balls to spare, registering a commanding victory over the hosts New Zealand.
While Nawaz scored unbeaten 105 runs in 45 balls with 10 fours and seven sixes, Agha got 51 runs in 31 balls with six fours and two maximums.
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