LAHORE – Pakistan thrashed New Zealand to win the second T20I match of the bilateral series by 38 runs at Gaddafi Stadium on Saturday.
Star pacer Haris Rauf claimed four wickets.
Earlier, Babar Azam smashed an amazing century as Pakistan made a total of 192 runs at the end of their innings.
Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first against the Kiwis, a day after Green Shirts slammed Kiwis by 88 runs in the first game at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.
After a thumping win in the first game, Men in Green aimed to advance winning momentum in rest of the games of the home series.
Pakistani skipper Babar Azam after registering several accolades in the game, said called it an honour to represent Pakistan after becoming the third player from the South Asian side to feature in 100 T20I matches.
Babar also hailed youngster Saim Ayub, who scored 47 runs in only 28 balls and added 79 crucial runs for the third wicket with Fakhar Zaman.
For the visiting side, it is an unchartered territory as they have never played a T20I in a South Asian nation. They hoped to bank on the experience of their recent tour of port city 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.
Squads
Pakistan: 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: 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
