All-round New Zealand beat Pakistan by 47 runs in the first ODI
After the T20I series loss, the visitors New Zealand came back strongly to defeat Pakistan by 47 runs in the first ODI played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Contributions from Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Ish Sodhi and Tim Southee helped the visitors post a decent total and despite a defiant partnership between Sarfraz Ahmed and Imad Wasim, they defended the target with ease to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson won the toss and decided to bat first. It was a poor start for the visitors as Shaheen Afridi dismissed George Worker early. Collin Munro played with positive intent putting pressure on Pakistan bowlers. The hard-hitting batsman was dismissed by Afridi for 29 and at the end of 10 overs, the visitors had only scored 47/2. Williamson and Taylor added 42 runs for the third wicket before Shadab Khan got the big wicket of Kiwi skipper.
Taylor and Latham steadied the ship by rotating the strike and putting the bad balls away. The former finally got to his half-century off 83 balls while the southpaw got his off just 47. The pair added 130 runs for the fourth wicket before Latham was dismissed for 68 by Shadab.
Then came the collapse as the visitors lost three wickets in a single over by the leggie and went from 208/4 to 208/6 in the space of four balls. Sodhi and Southee then took on Pakistan bowlers adding 42 important runs for the eighth wicket. The former scored a 19-ball 24 while Southee made 20 to help New Zealand post a decent total of 266/9 in 50 overs. Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi took 4 wickets each for Pakistan
In response, Trent Boult ripped out the backbone of Pakistan batting line-up grabbing a hattrick dismissing Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez in the 3rd over. Imam and the experienced Shoaib Malik steadied the ship to help Pakistan get to 39/3 after 10 overs.
After the power play overs, both of them continued to take singles and hit bad balls away for fours. Lockie Ferguson dismissed Imam-ul-Haq for 34, ending the 63-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Soon after that, Collin de Grandhomme got the big wicket of Malik.
Sodhi dismissed Shadab for 7 to leave Pakistan in big trouble at 85/6. Sarfraz Ahmed and Imad Wasim steadied the innings with an impressive partnership. Sarfraz reached his half-century off 59 balls and the pair added 103 runs for the seventh wicket before Colin de Grandhomme took the big wicket of Pakistan captain for 64.
Imad, Pakistan's last hope reached his half-century off 72 balls but was dismissed soon after. New Zealand bowled out Pakistan for 219 in 47.2 overs with Boult and Ferguson finishing with 3 wickets each.
Brief Scores: New Zealand 266 for 9 in 50 overs (Ross Taylor 80, Tom Latham 68, Shadab Khan 4/38, Shaheen Afridi 4/46) beat Pakistan 219 in 47.2 overs (Sarfraz Ahmed 64, Imad Wasim 50, Trent Boult 3/54, Ferguson 3/34) by 47 runs.
New Zealand takes a 1-0 lead in the series. The second ODI will be played at the same venue on Friday.