All the Corey details: Pakistan surrender series in meek fashion

New Zealand win by 95 runs to take three-match series 2-1

KARACHI:

It went from bad to worse for Pakistan as hosts New Zealand beat the Men in Green by 95 runs courtesy of an all-round show from man of the match Corey Anderson to clinch the T20I series 2-1 in what was the last outing for skipper Shahid Afridi in New Zealand.

Pakistan’s spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed was quick to admit that the team played a poor brand of cricket.

“We have got to admit that we were poor from the first ball to the last ball, and New Zealand were far better than us in all aspects of the game,” he said.



Coming on the back of an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat in the second T20I, the Black Caps’ dominance over the visitors did not change, despite skipper Afridi opting to field first after winning the toss.

Martin Guptill started from where he had left off in the last match — smashing a 19-ball 42 as he went after the bowling right from the word go. The whirlwind inning gave New Zealand a solid start of 57-0 inside the first six overs but was dismissed off the last ball of the powerplay when Guptill top-edged a slog sweep off Afridi.

The Black Caps capitalised on the good start at the end as Anderson regained his form with a swashbuckling 82 not out off 42 balls to help New Zealand finish with 196-5 in their 20 overs.



Wahab Riaz took two wickets but gave away 43 runs in his four overs. Barring Afridi, who finished with impressive figures of 1-27 in his four overs, all other bowlers were on the wrong end of some heavy hitting from the New Zealand batsmen.

“Guptill took the attack to us and didn’t allow the bowlers to settle, but we shouldn’t have conceded so many runs from Anderson,” added Mushtaq. “We had a plan against him but it was never implemented. Our bowling in the last two matches has been really poor and we have got to improve.”

Pakistan had a disastrous start to the chase and never recovered from the early blows as they were bundled out for 101 in 16.1 overs. Wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed top-scored with a 36-ball 41 which included five boundaries but no one really got going for them.



Speedster Adam Milne and medium-pacer Grant Elliot took three wickets apiece, while Anderson made two early inroads.

Mushtaq, understandably, wants the side to shift their focus to the upcoming ODIs rather than dwell too long on the defeats.

“We need to recover and regroup ahead of the one-day series,” he said. “The new players and captain Azhar Ali can bring in fresh enthusiasm and hopefully we’ll do well in the ODIs. As a team, we need to be fearless. Our basic cricket has always been of an aggressive brand and that is what we should do.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd,  2016.

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