New Zealand after a commanding performance against Bangladesh would have been confident facing the Pakistanis. The Kiwis have always had problems against the Asian giants and this match was no different. New Zealand in the end lost by 13 runs, but the Kiwis will accept the fact that they left it for too late while batting and never got into the game.

Pakistan were always the favourites to win the encounter, they have some of the finest performers in T20 cricket and have the bowling attack which can defend any target. They batted well and put up a good score. Things were always going to be difficult for the Kiwis as they had to score close to nine runs an over from the first ball. Captain Ross Taylor made some interesting changes in the batting order and pushed himself down the order, which in the end proved fatal for the New Zealanders.

Let’s have a look at some of the hits and flops from both innings.

Pakistan:

Hits:

Mohammad Hafeez: The Pakistani skipper played his dual role of opening batsman and bowler very well and was a key factor for his team’s win. Hafeez looked good with the bat scoring 43 runs and with the ball he was very economical conceding only 15 runs in his four overs.

Nasir Jamshed: He has been going through brilliant form and looks a very bright prospect for Pakistan. Jamshed started middling the ball as soon as he came into bat and penetrated the gaps beautifully. At one point in his innings, he was scoring at a rate of more than 200, Jamshed’s innings of 56 included two fours and four sixes.

Saeed Ajmal: He has been one of the most consistent performers for Pakistan in all the three formats of the game. Hafeez delayed Ajmal’s arrival as late as he could and the ploy worked wonderfully for the team. Kiwis found it very difficult to hit him for runs and Ajmal kept his cool to bowl a brilliant spell under pressure. Ajmal was the pick of the Pakistani bowler claiming four wickets.

Flops:

Umar Gul: Gul is the most experienced bowlers in the Pakistani attack, but in this match he was a bit too wayward for his captain’s liking. Gul bowled too loose and was lucky to have not conceded more runs than he ended up giving. Gul went for almost 10 runs an over.

New Zealand:

Hits:

Ross Taylor: He pushed himself far too down the order and that took his team nowhere. The Kiwis were almost out of the game, when Taylor walked in to bat. Taylor scored 26 runs off just 11 deliveries before going for a suicidal run.

Daniel Vettori: Vettori bowled with the new ball along with Mills and looked good. He struggled against Bangladesh in the last match, but in this match he bowled a lot better. He picked up the all important wicket of Jamshed and conceded only 23 runs.

Flops:

Jacob Oram: He was the most expensive Kiwi bowler conceding 44 runs in his four overs. He bowled a bad penultimate over and was the reason Pakistan got close to 180 run-mark.

Defensive batting: All the three top order batsmen were a bit negative in their approach. They should have gone a bit hard in the opening few overs but failed to do so.