Pakistan reached the pinnacle of the T20I rankings by defeating New Zealand in the decider of the 3-match T20 series. After being whitewashed in the 5-ODI series, Pakistan lost the 1st T20I as well, but they mounted a strong comeback and clinched a victory in both of the last two T20Is.

Winning the toss at Bay Oval, Pakistan decided to bat first. The team dealt a blow as Hasan Ali had to be sidelined due to an injured ankle. However, the Men in Green batted brilliantly and kept the score ticking as they registered a total of 181 runs losing 6 wickets.

Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman played the highest individual innings of 46 runs for his team. No other batsmen posted more than 30 runs, but did their duty accordingly when on the pitch and kept building decent stands to lift the score past 180.

Umar Amin’s quick-fire innings of 21 from 7 deliveries was followed by Aamer Yamin’s unbeaten cameo of 15 off 6 balls while Haris Sohail also remained not out scoring 20 runs at the other end.

Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi scalped two wickets apiece, as Colin De Grandhomme and Trent Boult picked up a wicket each for the Black Caps.

While chasing the big total, New Zealand managed to score 163 runs losing 6 wickets. The Kiwis lost their first wicket as Kane Williamson got dismissed scoring 9 runs. Martin Guptill and Anaru Kitchen stitched a 52-run stand where Kitchen’s contribution was only 16 runs.

Shadab Khan hit twice in the 13th over to bag the wickets of Kitchen and Guptill. Martin Guptill picked up a half-century and clubbed 59 runs before returning to the pavilion.

Tom Bruce made 22 runs before getting out bowled by Rumman Raees. Before Bruce, Grandhomme got bowled out by Aamer Yamin on 1 run and Ross Taylor’s wicket was picked up by Mohammad Amir. Taylor scored 25 off 11 before leaving the crease and Mitchell Santner remained unbeaten on 24 runs alongside Tom Blundell who made 3 runs.