New Zealand thrash Pakistan again to go 2-0 up in T20 cricket series

In their Twenty20 cricket series, New Zealand’s openers defeated Pakistan by five wickets in a six-hit blitz to defeat them.

After Pakistan posted 135-9 off 15 overs in a rain-shortened second match, the home side took control of the five-match series by reaching 137-5 with 11 balls to spare in Dunedin on Tuesday.

A fierce opening exchange between Tim Seifert and Finn Allen, which saw seven of the opening eight shots with sixes, was New Zealand’s highlight.

In a remarkable move, Seifert played out a maiden off of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s opening over before Mohammad Ali bowled him three times to break the University Oval boundary three times in the second over.

Seifert then smashed 26 off Afridi’s second over, including four sixes, before going out on 45 with 22 balls.

With the openers hitting five sixes each, Allen soon lost for 38 off 16.

Both batsmen are naturally big hitters, according to white-ball expert Allen, who entered the run chase with a straightforward mindset.

We just looked optimistic, made an effort to advance early, and made it simple for our middle order to finish it off, Allen said, expressing confidence in their ability to hit the target.

“In a 15-over game, it’s kind of difficult to assess, but defending out here is pretty difficult. Because those are tiny boundaries, the ball can sometimes fly in this situation. Therefore, I believe 170 would have been competitive.

Four wickets fell in the final four overs of the chase, but Mitch Hay’s unbeaten 21 kept the outcome safe.

Salman Agha, captain, started to recover after Pakistan were sent in and lost opener Hasan Nawaz without scoring for the second time in the series, top-scoring with 46 off 28 balls.

Before the skipper started a four-and-three-sixes knock, they were 19-2 in the fourth over.

Afridi did not score on 22 of his 14 balls, but Shadab Khan was aggressive in the middle order with 26 off 14.

Ben Sears and Jimmy Neesham, both recalled in place of Tim Robinson and Kyle Jamieson, were the only New Zealand bowlers who took two wickets.

After defeating Pakistan for 91 on Sunday, New Zealand won the series by nine wickets and will win game three in Auckland on Friday.