Istafa Ali
Ina high scoring match New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 5 wickets. This was the warm up match between the two sides before the World Cup which is going to kick off on October 5th. The match was played behind closed doors due to security concerns. The match was played in Hyderabad, India where Pakistan team will play their first two matches of the mega event against Netherlands and Sri Lanka respectively. Pakistan will play their second warm up match against Australia on 3rd October.
After winning toss Babar Azam chose to bat on a pitch where runs were expected to come easily. Imam ul Haq and Abdullah Shafique opened for Pakistan, both openers failed to impress. Imam got out after scoring just a single and Shafique barely got into his double figures. Babar and Rizwan then took responsibility of the innings and build a massive partnership of 114 runs for the third wicket. Babar Azam lost his wicket for 80 and Rizwan got retired hurt after making a superb century.
Mitchell Santner took two wickets as Pakistan put on a massive total of 345 runs in their 50 overs for the lose of 5 wickets.
In reply Black Caps came out very positive. They took on Pakistani bowlers from the beginning even after losing an early wicket. The massive target of 346 seemed very easy for New Zealand against bowling attack of Green shirts. New Zealand achieved the target only in the 44th over of the innings for the lose of 5 wickets. For Pakistan Usama Mir took two wickets.
Pakistan will play the next and the last warm up match against Australia on 3rd October, in this match crowd will be allowed to attend the match in the stadium.
