KARACHI , May 4, 2023: Imam ul Haq’s blistering 107-ball 90 and bowlers’ brilliance powered Pakistan to series win against New Zealand in the third ODI in Karachi on Wednesday.
Chasing a target of 287, New Zealand were bundled out for 261, paving way for the home side to bag 26-run victory with five balls to spare.
Will Young (33) and Tom Blundell (65) put on a vital partnership of 83 runs for the first wicket. But after this partnership, the visitors continued to lose wickets. Cole McConchie played a great innings, scoring an unbeaten 64 off 45 balls, hitting six fours and two massive sixes.
Captain Tom Latham (45) and Daryl Mitchell (21) showed some resistance. But both were dismissed by Muhammad Wasim.
Mark Chapman (13), Henry Nicholls (1), Adam Milne (3), Henry Shipley (7), Ash Sodhi (1) and Matt Henry (1) failed to show much resistance.
Shaheen Shah Afridi (2-53), Naseem Shah (2-42) and Mohammad Wasim (2-50) took two wickets each for Pakistan. Agha Salman (1-42) took one wicket.
Mohammad Nawaz (0-26) and Shadab Khan (0-45) remained wicketless.
Earlier, Imam ul Haq’s enterprising 107-ball 90 and Babar Azam’s clinical 62-ball 54 steered Pakistan to 287-6 against the visitors.
Pakistan suffered from early blow, when Fakhar Zaman (19) – who is in sublime form in the series – was flummoxed by Matt Henry. But it was the brilliant 108-run partnership off 121 balls between Babar Azam and Imamul Haq that paved way for the home side to put decent total on board.
Mohammad Rizwan (32), Agha Salman (31) also showed some significant resistance with the bat, before Shadab Khan played unconquered cameo of 12-ball 21, lacing with one boundary and two sixes.
Matt Henry (3-54) spearheaded New Zealand with the bowl and bagged three wickets. Henry was ably supported by Adam Milne (2-56), who scooped up two wickets. Cole McConchie delivered economical spell, conceding merely 46 runs and picking up an important wicket.
Henry Shipley was wicketless and turned out to be costly, conceding 73 runs. Ish Sodhi also remained wicketless and conceded 56.
Earlier, New Zealand have won the toss and decided to bowl first against Pakistan in the third ODI of five-match series today.
The remaining two matches of the five one-day match series between green shirts and kiwis are also scheduled in Karachi. This series is being viewed as a tough test for Babar-XI before the Asia Cup and World Cup.