Pakistani team lost the T20I series against Afghanistan by 2-1, and now they are playing the 5-match T20I match against New Zealand.
Recovering from the humiliating defeat against Afghanistan, Pakistan registered a one-sided victory over New Zealand in the first T20 to take the lead in the 5-match series. In response to Pakistan’s 182 runs, the Kiwi team was bundled out for 94 runs.
Pakistan’s regular captain Babar Azam returned to the team from this match. Shadab Khan was made the captain by resting him in the series against Afghanistan. Babar defeated New Zealand by 88 runs and equalled the record of former Team India captain MS Dhoni.
As a captain in T20 International, MS Dhoni won 41 matches for the Indian team. At the same time, Babar Azam has also won 41 matches for Pakistan under his captaincy. Former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan and England’s Eoin Morgan hold the record of winning the most matches as captain in T20 Internationals. Both have won 42 matches for their teams. In such a situation, Babar Azam will make a world record as soon as he wins 2 matches.
Babar Azam has also become the third player from Pakistan to play 100 T20 International matches. Shoaib Malik (123) and Mohammad Hafeez (119) have played more matches than them. At the same time, discussions regarding the captaincy of Babar Azam are continuing. The Pakistan Cricket Board had recently said that the board would not decide on the team’s captain or the selectors but on potential advisor Mickey Arthur. PCB chairman Najam Sethi has also clearly said that Babar Azam is the captain only as long as he is helping the team win.
Regarding the match, Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first. After the early dismissals of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, and Saim Ayub played innings of 47-47 runs. Despite Matt Henry’s hat-trick, Pakistan managed to score 182 runs. In response, the New Zealand team returned to the pavilion for 94 runs in 15.3 overs. Haris Rauf took 4 wickets for just 18 runs in 3.3 overs.
