Daryll Mitchell and Glenn Phillips' emerged as star performers in New Zealand's seven-wicket win in the 4th T20I of the five-match series against New Zealand at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
With a target of 159, New Zealand pulled off the chase in 1.5 overs to chase. The Kiwis were 20/3 when Daryll and Phillips stepped up and formed a crucial unbeaten 139 -run partnership to pull off the chase for the hosts. Daryll Mitchell played a knock 72 off 44 balls while Glenn Phillips scored 70 off 52 balls.
For Pakistan, Shaheen Afridi's scalped all three wickets while conceding 34 runs at an economy rate of 8.50 in 4 overs. Despite getting early breakthroughs, the Men in Green failed to captilized on them as Daryll Mitchell and Glenn Phillips put on brilliant performance with the bat.
Shaheen Afridi triggered an early collapse in New Zealand's batting by picking wickets of Finn Allen (8) and Tim Seifert (0) in the first over of his spell. Afridi was brought into attack in the third over and dismissed Will Young for 4 to put Pakistan in commanding position.
However, Afridi was not supported by fellow bowlers to captilized on early breakthroughs. Mohammad Nawaz conceded 41 runs in his fours spell while Haris Rauf had another bad day as he gave away 29 runs in 3.4 overs.
Mohammad Rizwan's 90 went in vain
Mohammad Rizwan headlined for Pakistan in the first innings as his brilliant unbeaten knock of 90 off 62 balls to help the visitors post a total of 158/5 in 20 overs.
However, Rizwan's effort went down the drain as Pakistan's total on the board was not enough to defend. The visitors lost an early wicket in Saim Ayub at 5/1. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam was looking to form a good partnership till Azam was dismissed for 19 at 56/2.
Thereafter, Rizwan shouldered the responsibility of Pakistan's batting as middle-order failed to deliver. Fakhar Zaman (9), Sahibzada Farhan (1) and Iftikhar Ahmed (10) were dismissed cheaply by New Zealand bowlers.
Mohammad Rizwan formed a decent unbeaten 32-run partnership with Mohammad Nawaz for the sixth wicket to take Pakistan 150-run mark in the first innings.
After poor returns in three matches of the ongoing series against New Zealand, Mohammad Rizwan showed the glimpses of his return to form in the fourth T20I.
