New Zealand's Adam Milne bowls. Photo / AP
A depleted Black Caps outfit have crashed to a 38-run defeat in the second T20 against Pakistan - their second loss in two days, courtesy of Babar Azam’s blazing unbeaten century.
Babar hit 101 not out off 58 balls and anchored Pakistan to 192-4 after winning his second successive toss and choosing to bat first. The Black Caps, touring Pakistan without eight frontline players busy playing in the Indian Premier League and the injured Kane Williamson, struggled to cope with fast bowler Haris Rauf (4-27) before their chase was restricted to 154-7.
Pakistan lead the five-match series 2-0.
”I tried to bat till the end, utilise the last few overs and we managed to get a good total,” Babar said.
“Our bowling line-up is excellent. We have got experienced bowlers and some exciting young bowlers.”
Babar provided Pakistan with a brisk start of 99 runs off 64 balls with Mohammad Rizwan, who made 50 off 34, before the home team had a mini-collapse when the Black Caps took three quick wickets.
Fast bowler Matt Henry (2-29), whose hat-trick went in vain in the first game of the five-match series on Friday when Pakistan thumped New Zealand by 88 runs, dismissed Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman off successive deliveries before Saim Ayub survived the hat-trick ball.
Left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra then had Pakistan at 102-3 when Jimmy Neesham held onto Saim’s slog sweep at deep square leg.
Babar completed his half-century off 36 balls but took charge in the last three overs to raise his century off the next 22 deliveries, with Iftikhar Ahmed finishing 33 not out.
Babar needed 16 in the last over to become the first captain to score three T20I hundreds. He clobbered Neesham over mid-off for a six off the third ball in the final over before hitting the fast bowler for two boundaries off the last two deliveries on the offside to raise his superb hundred in front of his home crowd.
New Zealand had only one training session before the series at Lahore as they struggled to accelerate against Pakistan’s pace duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Zaman Khan in the powerplay.
Rauf then ran through the middle order with his deceptive bowling for the second consecutive day after notching his career-best figures of 4-18 on Saturday.
Captain Tom Latham (19) was trapped lbw on the back foot by Shadab Khan off Shadab’s second delivery and Chad Bowes scored 26 off 24 before he was beaten by the flight of Imad Wasim and clean bowled.
Mark Chapman (64 not out off 40 balls) showed some aggression with his fourth T20I half-century as Rauf struck at regular intervals in the latter half of the innings.
”When Babar plays like that, you tip your hat,” Latham said. “We were a lot better than last night. It is a game of fine margins and can be fickle.”
He said his team will “come back stronger.”
Lahore will host the third match on Tuesday before Rawalpindi stages the last two games of the series. The T20 series will be followed by five one-day internationals with Rawalpindi and Karachi set to host the games. - AP