Robinson’s fifty and O’Rourke’s three-for give New Zealand unassailable 2-1 lead

Four days after failing to defend 178 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan failed to chase down the same target in Lahore on Thursday. A disciplined performance from New Zealand’s bowling attack, particularly the pace duo of Will O’Rourke and Ben Sears saw them edge Pakistan by four runs and take a 2-1 lead in the series.

In pursuit of a target of 179, Pakistan lost early wickets, slumping to 46 for 3 before the powerplay was over. Only a spirited performance by New Zealand’s old foe Fakhar Zaman kept the game alive for Pakistan. Fakhar marked his return to the side with a 45-ball 61, lashing three sixes along the way, but when an off-colour Iftikhar Ahmed and he fell in consecutive overs, Pakistan’s fate was sealed.

Pakistan kept the game alive till the very last ball, though, thanks to Imad Wasim. A cagey final over from Jimmy Neesham, in which he had to defend 17, ended with Pakistan needing six of the final ball, and a scythed blow behind point was not enough to pull off the heist.

Earlier, Pakistan had put New Zealand in, making five changes to the side as Mohammad Amir, Imad and Zaman Khan all returned. But it was New Zealand who landed the telling early blows as Tim Robinson and Tom Blundell put the bowlers to the sword in the powerplay, racing to 56 in the first five overs.

The dismissal of Blundell saw Pakistan rein New Zealand in somewhat, but Robinson’s explosive knock – he smashed 51 off 36 before Abbas Afridi removed him.

New Zealand did lose their way at the death as Imad and Amir did well, but the efficiency of their bowlers confirmed that they had put up just about enough to keep Pakistan at bay.

Pakistan rung in the changes in the fast-bowling department, with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah both missing out. In came Amir, but it was Abbas who stood out, bowling some of the toughest overs and coming away with both credit and wickets. After a first over where New Zealand targeted him in the powerplay, he returned and provided an immediate much-needed breakthrough as the explosive Robinson miscued him into the night sky.

For some reason not called upon for his full quota, Abbas’ final over – the penultimate one of the innings – was the pick of the bunch. A mix of cutters, hard lengths and perfect yorkers saw Abbas take two and concede just five as New Zealand continued to be dragged back. Abbas’ figures of 3 for 20 possibly left Babar Azam wondering why he hadn’t used him for the full four.

It’s perhaps on-brand for Shadab Khan’s reputation as an allrounder that despite not bowling a single delivery for the first time in a completed T20I innings, he was responsible for the most impressive Pakistan contribution in the field. It took place in the 14th over of the New Zealand innings, when Mark Chapman – Pakistan’s bete noire on tours like these – slapped one over the head of wide mid-off. Or so he thought. Shadab moved to his left and flung himself into the air with feline-like lethality. The speed of the ball knocked his right hand off as he held on to it with his left. It took a disbelieving crowd a few moments to register what had happened, but it hampered New Zealand’s death-overs push.

There’s a Super Smash feel to the New Zealand squad in Pakistan, and that was particularly true of the seam-bowling duo of Sears and O’Rourke. Sears had played ten T20Is before this tour while O’Rourke was yet to make his debut, but the pair was instrumental in halting Pakistan’s early charge from the get-go.

While Pakistan targeted Jacob Duffy, O’Rourke struck in his first over, drawing Babar into a cover drive, and the extra bounce saw him paddle it to cover-point on the full.

He also dismissed the other opener, Saim Ayub, who was put down in the first over.

Sears kept New Zealand plugging away as he prised out Usman Khan to leave Pakistan in trouble. The pair’s ability to keep the runs quiet at the same time allowed Michael Bracewell to turn to them whenever pressure needed to be applied, a motif that continued right through the innings. The pair was brought later, and gave their captain the wickets of Iftikhar and Fakhar to kill the game off, combining for figures of 8-0-54-5.

Brief scores:
New Zealand 178 for 7 in 20 overs  (Tim Robinson 51, Tom Blundell 28, Dean Foxcroft 34, Bracewell 27; Mohammad Amir 1-32, Zaman Khan 1-35,  Abbas Afridi 3-20, Usama Mir 1-40, Ifthikar Ahmed 1-14) beat Pakistan 174 for 8 in 20 overs (Saim Ayub 20, Fakhar Zaman  61, Ifthikar Ahmed 23, Imad Wasim 22*; William  O’Rourke 3-27, Ben Sears 2-27, Michael Bracewell 1-31, James Neesham 1-21) by four runs