Twitter reacts as Pakistan beat New Zealand by 6 wickets to seal the series 2-0
After losing the first match while chasing, New Zealand chose to bat first after winning the toss. Colin Munro's quickfire innings of 44 form 28 balls provided a good start to the visitors as they could score more than 50 runs in the powerplay.
On the other hand, Munro's opening partner, Glenn Phillips struggled to score runs as he could score just 4 runs off 12 balls. When the Kiwis were looking to build on the start, Pakistan got the wickets of Phillips and Munro in the sixth and the seventh overs respectively.
Two of the next three batsmen struggled to score runs at a quick pace thereby reducing the scoring rate to a large extent. From 50-1 in the power play, New Zealand could manage only 33 runs off the next 35 balls for the loss of three wickets.
After the fourth wicket fell, Corey Anderson came to the middle and took the matter into his own hands. Anderson's 25-ball 44 helped the Kiwis post a total in excess of 150 with the help of Kane Williamson and Tim Seifert. Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the Pakistan bowlers as he took 3 wickets for just 20 runs in four overs.
Chasing a total of 154, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman provided the right start to their innings. Zaman who was returning to side from an injury was the aggressor of the two scoring 24 off 15 balls.
After the initial blitz by Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam and Asif Ali concentrated on stabilising the innings. The two scored at nearly run-a-ball putting together a 56-run partnership off 50 balls.
Off the last ball of the sixteenth over, Asif Ali departed after scoring a 34-ball 38. The wicket meant that two relatively new batsmen had to score at 10 runs per over in the last four overs to take their side to victory.
Mohammad Hafeez who already spent six balls in the middle took the onus onto him and hit two sixes off the first three bowled of the seventeenth over bowled by Ish Sodhi. The two big blows from Hafeez and a six from Shoaib Malik made things easy for Pakistan.
With seven runs needed off the last over, Malik got out off the second ball but the experienced Hafeez took home Pakistan with two balls to spare. With this win, Pakistan now have five consecutive wins in T20Is and have won the series with one match left to play.
Here's Twitter reacted to Pakistan's series win against New Zealand: