Pakistan beat New Zealand by 5 wickets, spot almost booked in semi-finals

Pakistan vs New Zealand, 19th Match, Group 2 (N), Sharjah, Oct 26 2021

Match Result: Pakistan won by 5 wickets (with 8 balls remaining)

Player of the Match: Haris Rauf

Match Report: Pakistan have been winning games in a new way. Sensible way. They’ve been very, very clinical, and even in that one rare moment when the Kiwis put them were dominating, they’ve dealt with it very, very sensibly, without even taking it deep. And now they’re out there in the middle, their entire squad, clicking a selfie.

Also let’s remember that, there wasn’t a lot of dew either for help like the other night in Dubai. Babar and Rizwan started off decently, but it was no where near their first outing against India. Fakhar just couldn’t get going. And Sodhi with a couple of his off-breaks did indeed push the game in New Zealand’s favour.

Also Malik was quite scratchy to start off. The difference though were those two poor slower deliveries from Southee, in the slot, for Asif Ali to smoke away, and seal it. Santner didn’t help New Zealand’s cause with a below par 18th over either.

Haris Rauf | Player of the Match – “I am happy with the performance, thanks to the team, the fielding unit, they supported the bowlers, the support staff and the fans for all the support they’ve given us. There’s competition in the bowling unit, we have been playing together for two years, myself, Shaheen and Hasan Ali.

We talk with each other, assess the conditions and we do get confidence from each other. The wicket of Guptill in the powerplay was the best amongst the four wickets.

Thankful to everyone, my family, the way Lahore Qalandars supported me, I’m here today because of them.”

Kane Williamson | Losing skipper: “It is very disappointing. We were optimistic at the halfway stage. It was going to be really tough, we were a boundary or two at being above par. There were small margins, but we couldn’t nail it at the back end.

Credit to Pakistan, thet are a strong side and were very smart. I thought our bowlers were outstanding for 80% of the game. Quite tough to swallow. We were going into the second half, but this is a very goodd Pakistani side and are a team to watch.

It is a game of small margins, we go to a different venue against India. We will have conversations and play accordingly. There were a few good decisions, but there are very small margins in these low-scoring games.”

Babar Azam | Winning skipper: “Feels great to win and we’ll look to carry forward the confidence. The spinners started off brilliantly, and Haris and Shaheen carried it through. I would like to compliment our fielding, that has carried us through here.

I thought we gave 10 runs too many. But this is cricket and it happens. While batting, there were wickets early on and we needed a partnership. Malik showed experience and Asif Ali contributed too.

Every match is crucial. There is no easy match. We’ll look to play it day by day and game by game.“