Mark Chapman-inspired New Zealand side brushed past Pakistan in the third to level the series 1-1. Mark Chapman finished with an unbeaten 87 off just 42 balls as he made light work of the 178 Pakistan had put up, with New Zealand getting there with ten balls and seven wickets to spare. It doesn’t seem to matter who turns up for New Zealand, the series they play in Pakistan invariably turn out to be competitive.
Mark Chapman led the chase with a belligerent 42-ball 87* as New Zealand beat Pakistan by seven wickets in the third T20I at Rawalpindi to level the five-match T20I series 1-1. Opting to bat first, the hosts posted a solid 178/4 from their 20 overs with contributions coming through their top-order and a Shadab Khan 20-ball cameo of 41 at the fag end. However, New Zealand, led by Mark Chapman, overhauled the target with 10 balls to spare.
Pitch and Toss
The pitches at the Pindi venue are known for their flat nature, producing run-feasts. The wickets also provide good bounce, assisting the quicks. In the recent PSL, there were mixed wickets on offer. In the second T20I, pacers found joy due to the wickets being under covers throughout the week.
New Zealand have won the toss and have opted to field . Micheal Bracewell led NZ team made two changes having two debutants like Zakary Foulkes and William O’Rourke in the setup.
Pakistan made only one change in the squad resting Mohammad Amir and bringing in Abbas Afridi
New Zealand bowlers stymie Pakistan’s progress
Pakistan opted to bat first and had a brisk partnership going between Babar Azam (37 off 29) and Saim Ayub (32 off 22) before Ish Sodhi got the visitors the first breakthrough to break the stand at 55. Azam continued with Rizwan, who later retired hurt on 22. New Zealand were able to break the momentum with two quick wickets on either side, dismissing Azam and wicketkeeper-bat Usman Khan in the space of 17 balls.
Shadab Khan provides impetus to the innings as Pakistan goes to 178 for 4 after 20 overs.
Irfan Khan was joined by Shadab and together the pair provided the much-needed impetus again in a 62-run partnership for the fourth-wicket that took Pakistan past the 150 mark. Shadab was the aggressor, hitting a couple of sixes and four more boundaries in his 20-ball 41, while Irfan made an unbeaten 30 in a similar number of deliveries.
Pakistan meandered for another couple of overs, and it was Shadab Khan’s introduction that injected purpose into the innings. By now, the run rate had slipped to 8.07, but a couple of boundaries off his first four balls set the wheels in motion for an innings where he flew to 41 off 20.
Alongside Irfan Khan, Pakistan began to blast their way back towards a competitive total. Perhaps cruelly for New Zealand, it was Bracewell, whose overs had reined Pakistan in so, who took the greatest hit during that whirlwind partnership as the pair smashed his final over for 19 runs.
Once more, though, New Zealand found a way to have the final say, with Jacob Duffy and Foulkes managing a pair of tight final overs that kept Pakistan below 180. Pakistan might have felt it was enough against an enfeebled New Zealand side, but as is often the case in T20 cricket, there are few hiding places for below-par totals.
Steady Start to New Zealand innings as Tim Robinson and Tim Siefert gives a quickfire start in the powerplay.
Chasing Pakistan 178/4, New Zealand’s openers too gave the team a brisk start before falling six balls apart in the last-two overs of the powerplay. New Zealand had begun brightly with the big-hitting Tim Seifert and Tim Robinson, but lost both in the space of seven balls to Abbas Afridi and Naseem Shah, respectively. At that point, with inexperience to follow and a battery of impressive bowling options for Babar Azam, the chase felt in severe danger of being going off course.
Mark Chapman picks up from where he left last April as his 87* helps NZ wins the match by 8 wickets.
Mark Chapman was New Zealand’s most impressive performer when a similarly under-strength side visited in April 2023, and had little trouble picking up from where he had left off.
But Mark Chapman demonstrated that his ability extended beyond power hitting, as he set about taking apart the dangerous duo of Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed. He understood the target wasn’t huge enough to require reckless slogging and manipulated the field to pick boundaries in three successive overs the two bowled. There was a slice of fortune when Naseem fluffed a fairly simple chance off a miscued sweep, and it resulted in the batter going back into his shell for a stray Iftikhar Ahmed over.
The reprieve ended up costing Pakistan dearly. Iftikhar was shown no such respect when he came back on, smashed for a huge six back over his head and, as Mark Chapman steered New Zealand towards Pakistan’s total with chanceless inevitability, the flair in his game began to shine through, too. For he wouldn’t just get New Zealand to their target, but land a psychological blow by decimating their two prized fast bowlers.
Shaheen Shah Afridi was the first to bear the brunt, as two boundaries and a six in the 15th over brought the asking rate below nine. Babar brought his ace Naseem back in immediately, but a worse fate awaited him. A carved six, a carved four, a straight six, and a pulled four. That’s how his first four balls went in a 23-run over, plunging the required rate to under a run a ball.
It’s perhaps obligatory to say at this point that Dean Foxcroft was an able understudy, but in truth, this was a one-man chase. Just two boundaries came off Foxcroft’s bat in a 117-run partnership, and while Foxcroft struggled to keep his strike rate over 100, Mark Chapman finished at more than double that. Pakistan will rightly reflect on the quality of their death bowling, but the fact that all it took was a solo effort to hunt down what they managed raises the question about the adequacy of that first-innings total.
Mark Chapman then took charge, forging a 117-run partnership with Dean Foxcroft, who more or less played spectator. Mark Chapman took apart the bowling with his aggressive batting, hitting four sixes and nine boundaries in his 42-ball essay. He notched up a 29-ball half-century en route, and took his team over the finish line on the second ball of the penultimate over.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Babar Azam the loosing captain said : We were 10 runs short unfortunately. I think Shadab recovered well and built a good partnership. I think 180-190 was a par score according to me. We tried to play according to the situation. Shadab (Khan) executed his plans and played his natural game.
He played as per the demand of the situation. We started well in the powerplay. If you drop catches it will cost you. We tried to bowl according to the plans. We will try to improve and bowl better in the next game.
Micheal Bracewell the winning captain said : Really happy with the guys, they got the learning from night last and played better today. Impressed with our debutants. It’s a big occasion playing in front of such a big crowd. The guys will get more experience going forward. The way Sodhi bowled, he was outstanding.
The guys at the back end brought us back in the game. I think the partnership between Chapman and Foxcroft was outstanding. Chappy (Chapman) has been outstanding for us.
Mark Chapman Player of the match for his 87* said : Always nice to come here, happy to level the series. Pakistan have a great attack but it (target) was quite chaseable. It was an outstanding bowling performance by us. Yesterday we lost wickets in clumps and it (pitch) was a tad slower. It was great to have that 100-plus partnership with him (Foxcroft.) We know Pakistan’s death bowling is outstanding but we managed to come out on top tonight.
NZ bounce back in an emphatic way to level the series 1-1. They lost last night by 7 wickets but they have managed to win the third T20I and have levelled the 5-match T20I series, I repeat. NZ elected to bowl first earlier in the day and although Pakistan had a good partnership between Babar and Ayub for the first wicket, they were not really able to make the most out of the given situation.
There were a couple of handy partnerships as Pakistan ended up with a challenging total, however, it was never going to be enough. The NZ openers got them off a flying start and once they departed it was that man – Mark Chapman who ruled the rest of the evening. His innings of 87* consisted of nine boundaries and four maximums as NZ chased down the target in the 19th over. As clinical as it could get.