Haris Sohail and Shahid Afridi led an impressive comeback by Pakistan to seal victory over New Zealand in the first one day international in Dubai this morning. Pakistan were earlier reduced to 86/5 in their pursuit of NZ’s 286 and needed the calm heads of Sohail (85*) and Afridi (61) to see them home with three balls to spare. The pair shared a 110 run match-winning partnership and nullified the threat of Daniel Vettori’s (2-40) spin and Adam Milne’s (0-42) pace towards the back end of the chase, just when New Zealand were desperate for wickets.
As predicted, Ross Taylor had early taken it upon himself to deliver NZ a total they were capable of defending after they had earlier collapsed to 111-5. Taylor’s 105* stood out like a sore thumb on a scoreboard featuring multiple starts but nothing else over 27. Luke Ronchi (23) and Vettori (27) were both in that category, but their’s were scored at good strike-rates and were both important cameos in the context of the total.
The New Zealand’s cricket team’s struggle on a slow wicket was perhaps best illustrated by the fact that none of the Pakistan bowlers went for over 6-runs-per-over. While Mohammad Irfan And Wahab as took the bulk of the wickets, the economical spell of man of the match Haris Sohail (10-30-0) was the most telling in the tight contest.
Any momentum that the Pakistan team took at the half way mark quickly evaporated when their top order was rocked by accuracy and carelessness. Top order woes continued to middle order woes and when Sarfraz Ahmed (26) was the sixth wicket to fall at 124 to cricket match seemed unlovable for NZ.
However, as Pakistan employed a more cautious approach to their batting, led surprisingly by the enigmatic Afridi, the New Zealand attack could find no way through and could not take the wickets that were necessary to restrict the Pakistanis. That meant the asking rate was never out of reach, and when wickets were on the agenda, Jimmy Neesham (2-62) and Kyle Mills (1-54) disappointed in their closing spells.
So, 1-0 to Pakistan when it looked unlikely for much of the game. Game two to look forward to on Friday.
Pakistan 250 for 7 (Haris 85*, Afridi 61) beat New Zealand 246 for 7 (Taylor 105*, Irfan 3-57) by three wickets
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