BENGALURU
In the ICC World Cup Thanks to Fakhar Zaman’s brilliant century, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 21 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-affected match.
Having achieved the fourth victory in the World Cup, the chances of reaching the semi-finals have brightened.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and elected to bat first in the 35th match of the World Cup played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Kiwi openers Dion Conway and Richan Ravindra got off to a positive start, initially playing cautiously.
Fast bowler Hasan Ali bowled Dion Conway for an individual score of 35.
Along with this, he also completed his 100 wickets in ODIs.
Kiwi captain Kane Williamson then joined Richan Ravindra and finished off the Pakistani bowling in the next 24 overs.
Richan Ravindra did not miss another opportunity to make this World Cup memorable by scoring his third century of the event and adding 180 runs for the second wicket with Williamson.
The partnership ended when New Zealand captain Kane Williamson succumbed to a nervous nineties and returned to the pavilion after a 79-ball 95, studded with 2 sixes and 10 fours.
The Ravindra could not bear to part with captain from the second end and after playing a good innings of 108 runs, he gave the wicket to Muhammad Wasim.
His innings included 15 fours and a towering six. New Zealand’s total score in the 36th over was 261 runs and three of its players had returned to the pavilion.
After that, wickets continued to fall intermittently for the Kiwi team but they continued to bat at a fast pace.
Daryl Mitchell scored 29 runs off 18 balls, Mark Champan scored 39 runs off 27 balls, Glenn Phillips scored 41 runs off 25 balls and Mitchell Santner scored 26 runs off 17 balls.
In this way, New Zealand scored 401 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the allotted 50 overs and has given Pakistan a target of 402 runs to win.
On behalf of Pakistan, Shaheen Shah Afridi proved to be the most expensive bowler by giving 90 runs in 10 overs, but he could not get any wicket.
Muhammad Wasim was the most successful bowler, he guided 3 players to the pavilion for 60 runs, while Hasan Ali took 82 runs, Haris Rauf 85 runs and Iftikhar Ahmed took one wicket each by giving 55 runs.
As Pakistan chased down the target, they soon suffered their first loss, when Abdullah Shafiq was dismissed for just 4 runs in the second over.
Captain Babar Azam arrived at the crease to support Fakhar Zaman, the two combined to give Pakistan a good start, especially with the left-handed Zaman batting aggressively and scoring a fifty off just 39 balls.
The national team completed the century for the loss of one wicket in the 15th over, completing a 100-run partnership on the occasion.
Fakhar Zaman played an aggressive game and scored a century with the help of 9 sixes off 63 balls.
Pakistan had just scored 160 runs for the loss of one wicket in 21.3 overs when rain intervened in the match, due to which the game had to be stopped.
About an hour of play was lost in the match due to rain and after the rain stopped, Pakistan got a revised target of 342 runs in 41 overs.
Pakistan restarted the innings when Babar Azam completed his half-century with a boundary and then both players scored 20 runs in one over of Ash Sodhi and Pakistan completed a double century in the 26th over.
Pakistan had scored 200 runs for the loss of one wicket in 25.3 overs when rain interrupted the match once again.
When the match was stopped, Pakistan was ahead in the match by 21 runs under the Duckworth-Louis method and when the match did not start by the allotted time, Pakistan was declared the winner of the match by 21 runs under the DLS method.
Fakhar Zaman played an innings of 126 runs off 81 balls with the help of 11 sixes and 8 fours while captain Babar Azam scored 66 runs off 63 balls with the help of two sixes and 6 fours.
Fakhar Zaman was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant century.
