PAKvNZ: Pakistan beat New Zealand by 88 runs in first T20I

LAHORE – Pakistan beat New Zealand by 88 runs in the first game of the five-match T20I series at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first when the match started at 9:00pm PST. Pakistan set a target of 183 runs in 19.5 overs at the loss of all 10 wickets. Chasing the target, the entire New Zealand team collapsed at 94 runs in 15.3 overs.

Babar Azam-led Pakistan played their first T20I here since October 2022, when they played England in the lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Pakistan have won 10 of the 18 matches here since 2015 and the venue has provided viewers action their money’s worth with 8.13 runs being scored per over.

For the Kiwis, it is an unchartered territory as they have never played a T20I in Pakistan. They hoped to bank on the experience of their recent tour of Karachi when they played two Tests and three One-Day Internationals across December and January and the data available to them about the venue, but playing in Gaddafi Stadium against a full-fledged Pakistan side was a challenging task.

Pakistan already have an upper-hand as they have defeated New Zealand four times in the last five matches, the most recent one being a convincing seven-wicket win in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Sydney. That only defeat was during the tri-series in Christchurch, which Pakistan won, just before the World Cup.

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan

New Zealand squad: Tom Latham (captain, wk), Chad Bowes, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver, Matt Henry, Ben Lister, Adam Milne, Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Will Young