By Fathima Zanaida
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| Man of the Match: Nasir Jamshed of Pakistan |
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (TheSportsNEXT) September 23, 2012: Pakistan started their ICC World Twenty20 2012 (ICCWT20) campaign on a winning note on Sunday when they defeated fighting New Zealand by 13 runs at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
Victory was attributed mainly to brilliant individual performances by Nasir Jamshed, skipper Mohammad Hafeez, and Saeed Ajmal.
Pakistan scored 177 for six from their 20 overs and then restricted BlackCaps to 164 for nine despite of late charge by their skipper Ross Taylor.
Pakistan skipper Mohammad Hafeez won the toss and decided to bat first on a placid batting track at Pallekele and soon he along with Imran Nazir (25 from 16 – 5 fours) started confidently. Only when Imran Nazir started looking solid he offered a caught-and-bowled chance to Tim Southee who accepted it gracefully to leave Pakistan 47/1 in the 6th over.
However, left-hand batsman Nasir Jamshed (56 from 35 – 2 fours, 4 sixes) stormed his way into the crease and make a solid impact on the game as he blasted two outrageous maximums over extra cover position off New Zealand spinners.
Pakistan added 76 runs for the second wicket before skipper Mohammad Hafeez (43 from 38 – 2 fours, 2 sixes) misjudged a length delivery from James Franklyn and lost his stumps as he looked for quick runs to up the run rate in the 14th over.
The dismissal of captain put pressure on the incoming batsmen and Kamran Akmal (3 from 3) found it tough to make himself at home in the center and soon Nasir Jamshed followed him.
Only when it all started to look falling apart for Pakistan, Umar Akmal (23 from 15 – 3 fours, 1 six), Shoaib Malik (9 not out from 7 – 1 four) and former skipper Shahid Afridi (12 from 6 – 2 fours) delivered the final punch as Pakistan raced to a formidable total of 177 for six from their 20 overs.
Tim Southee was the most successful bowler for BlackCaps as he went for 31 from his four overs and took two wickets. All-rounder Jacob Oram also captured two wickets but gave away 44 runs from his spell. Veteran left-arm off-spinner Daniel Vettori once again proved his worth in the side as he gave away only 23 runs from his quota for a wicket while James Franklyn bowled only one over and grabbed the prized scalp of Pakistani skipper for seven runs.
Interestingly, fifth bowler proved quite an expensive choice for New Zealand as they used three bowlers to bowl four overs where Nathan McCullum (2-0-23-0), Adam Milne (1-0-12-0), and James Franklyn (1-0-7-1) combined went for 42 runs.
Since the pitch was assisting batsmen more than bowlers, the chase was always on and young New Zealand openers Rob Nicol (33 from 28 -3 fours, 1 six) and Kane Williamson (15 from 13 – 2 fours) gave them a confident start by putting on 53 runs for the opening wicket.
Shahid Afridi came to rescue Pakistan yet again as he got rid of dangerous-looking Rob Nicol before a combination of Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Hafeez caught Kane Williams short of his crease.
New Zealand’s most explosive batsman Brendon McCullum (32 from 31 – 4 fours, 1 six) was still at the crease but skipper Ross Taylor made a surprising move of promoting Daniel Vettori (18 from 16 – 1 four) up the order at two-down position.
The two batsmen added 48 runs for third wicket before Saeed Ajmal hunted Vettori as his first scalp of the evening.
With pressure of huge asking run-rate mounting on Kiwi batsmen, McCullum tried to step out of the crease against fast bowler Umar Gul who fired one into the block-hole and inside edge rolled on to the stumps to end a little cameo of the Kiwi wicketkeeper.
Saeed Ajmal soon got rid of all-rounder Jacob Oram (11 from 7 – 2 fours) but New Zealand were still looking strong in the run-chase as the ball was coming nicely on to the bat.
BlackCaps skipper Ross Taylor (26 from 11 – 3 fours, 1 six) came to the crease and played a blinder as he helped the New Zealand to get closer of the target and James Franklin (13 from 6 – 1 four, 1 six) also hit a fabulous maximum off Sohail Tanvir to make it an interesting thrilling game but both lost their wickets in 18th and 19th over respectively.
New Zealand needed 21 runs from the last eight balls but limped to 164 for nine from their 20 overs, falling 13 runs short of the target as their hopes of qualifying into the next stage hinges on Pakistan vs Bangladesh match scheduled for September 25, 2012.
Skipper Mohammad Hafeez once again proved an economic option for Pakistan as he went for only 15 runs from his four overs but star of the show was Saeed Ajmal who once again reminded the International Cricket Council of his sheer class by taking four wickets for only 30 runs. Shahid Afridi also bowled well and exhibited glimpses of regaining form as he captured a wicket for 30 runs.
Pakistan’s worries remained in the fast bowling department as Umar Gul, Yasir Arafat and Sohail Tanvir all went for plenty collectively going for 84 runs from their eight overs. On the other hand, Pakistan’s spinners once again saved the day as they collectively leaked only 75 runs from their 12 overs.
Opening batsman Nasir Jamshed was declared Man of the Match for his fluent innings of 56 runs.
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