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NEW ZEALAND 209/9 (50 OVERS)
- Ross Taylor*86 (120)
- Henry Nicholls33 (63)
- Hasan Ali2/59 (9)
- Shaheen Shah Afridi4/38 (9)
PAKISTAN 212/4 (40.3 OVERS)
- Babar Azam46 (50)
- Fakhar Zaman88 (88)
- Lockie Ferguson3/60 (10)
- Ish Sodhi1/21 (6)
Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: @varunshetty
We hope you enjoyed our coverage! Catch you soon for the decider. Have a good night.
Before we leave: PCB confirms that Imam-ul-Haq's scans are all clear, and he will remain under observation from the team physio. Thank goodness for that.
Sarfraz: It was a complete team performance. We hoped to comeback strongly and we did. We wanted to use the new ball effectively. I have just heard that Imam has been discharged from the hospital. I think we batted very well today, Fakhar played all around the surface. We tackled the bouncer very well too. Our bowlers contained it really well after beinf wayward with the new ball. Our spinners controlled it nicely and the wickets from the pacers in the middle helped. Look forward to the decider in Dubai.
Williamson: A bit of scrapping that got us a total, but it wasn't enough on that surface. We were outplayed. In hindsight we will look back some things that we need to improve. In Dubai, we'll look to build on the lessons. With the ball, the guys did try hard, but not enough runs. [Lockie] has the pace which is handy. Under lights it skidded on a little more. At the end of the day, it [short ball strategy] isn't something we do all the time.
Afridi: Thanks to god. It's big that we won. The comeback was pretty nice. I tried to keep the line and length going and tried to use variations.
Shaheen Afridi is the Man of the Match.
Fahad Saeed: "Who will be the MOM Varun.Fakhar or young gun shaheen shah afridi.I guess Afridi.."
Hamza: "At last Pakistan won that game. Thanks fakhar zaman 88 & shaheen shah 4 for"
Kashif Mehmood: ""Finally the curse is over". Here they go Team Pakistan!"
Umaid Engineer: "Very composed innings from Pakistan (without a six). Rather than just throwing away wickets, for which they have fame, tried to save wicket and steadily walked towards victory. Finally, players wanted win this time. Otherwise it's only fans who were desperate for win all the while."
10:28pm Pakistan's first ODI win against New Zealand since December 2014. And it's a comprehensive one. A sensational bowling performance after New Zealand had elected to bat. They got early wickets, and then the spinners put up some magic for this era of cricket - they conceded only one boundary in 25 overs between them. Ross Taylor toiled hard, but he couldn't do too much after Shaheen Afridi had ripped through the line-up. Fakhar Zaman finally got in the runs, Babar was fluid as ever and the experienced Prof. saw them through with nearly 10 overs to spare. Hardly a blemish in today's performance and if it weren't for Imam's head injury, this would have been a perfect day. Imam is in the hospital for scans and he was conscious on the way. So it's overall good news tonight. The last ODI will be a decider.
11 dots in a row. Is he looking for poetry here? Pakistan have lost 12 in a row against NZ before this...
Umar: "I take my words back Varun, sorry I spoke too soon. That run rate IS hard to achieve on this pitch"
Amin: "Oh come on. Get it over with already!"
END OF OVER:40 | (maiden) | PAK: 208/4 (2 runs required from 60 balls, RR: 5.20, RRR: 0.20)
- Shadab Khan2 (10b)
- Mohammad Hafeez23 (28b)
- Ish Sodhi6-2-21-1
- Tim Southee9-0-44-0
It's a maiden. Looks like they won't win with 10 overs to spare after all.
Match Coverage
All Match NewsImam-ul-Haq's scans clear after helmet blow
The opening batsman will remain under the physio's observation
Shaheen Afridi, Fakhar help Pakistan draw level
Taylor's unbeaten 86 in vain as Pakistan stop New Zealand's 12-match streak against them
Pakistan need quick fix for batting woes
Pakistan have never beaten New Zealand in a bilateral ODI series in UAE, and they've got their backs to the wall again