All in all a clicnical performance by Pakistan and it was indeed great to see Mohammad Irfan and Raza Hasan back in Pakistan colors. However, the real test may come in the 2nd T20I where Pakistan could lose toss and bat first at the same venue. How they cope with that situation is yet to be seen but for the moment, Shahid Afridi and men will rest easy with a win under their belts.

By Azfar Khan (4th December, 2014)

Corey Anderson joined Guptill in the middle and the two went on to make a promising partnership of 46 runs for the fourth wicket and got New Zealand out of the mess after their top order failure. Just when the partnership started to look threatening Shahid Afridi bowled Guptill through the gate for 32. The score was 61/4 when Ronchi joined Anderson in the middle.

Anderson looked to attack the Pakistani bowlers as he hit Raza Hasan and Anwar Ali for 3 sixes in 5 balls. Ronchi supported Anderson batting without too many risky shots. A partnership of 51 was made between them until Anderson pulled and was caught at deep mid wicket to a fantastic catch by Saad Nasim off Raza Hasan's bowling, Anderson went for 48 runs and the score was 112/5. Neesham joined Ronchi but couldn't add many runs and was out for 6 when he was caught slicing to long off from Iran's bowling. Sohail Tanvir bowled the final over and got Ronchi clean bowled for 33 as New Zealand ended up taking their score to 135/7 after 20 overs.

Pakistan started their innings with the new opening partnership of Awais Zia and Sarfraz Ahmed. The two were facing debutant Henry and McClenaghan who bowled with pace and troubled the opening pair. The start was shaky against pace and the two openers looked uneasy against the new ball but both survived the start of the innings. Zia who has the reputation of being a hard hitter could only manage to hit two boundaries. He looked unconvincing whereas Sarfraz after his initial struggles came through and scored boundaries and swept the fast bowlers for six. The two put on a 51 run partnership before Zia was run out on 20 in the 8th over. 

Mohammad Hafeez joined Sarfraz and could only add 2 runs to the team's total before he was run out when going for a risky run. Pakistan were 60/2 when Haris Sohail came to the middle. Sarfraz who was in sparkling batting form reached his first half century in T20s when he scored 17 runs in the 11th over off Anderson. Haris on the other hand looked organised with the way he handled the two quicks Milne and McClenaghan. He looked to rotate the strike and allow Sarfraz to face most of the deliveries. Haris's innings was cut short when he threw away his wicket with an easy catch to McCullum on McClenaghan's bowling.

The score was 97/3 when Umar Akmal came to the middle with the task of finishing things off and taking his team home. Umar and Sarfraz contributed 43 runs and took Pakistan home in the last over without causing any drama for the team. Umar Akmal sealed it with a six off Neesham and remained unbeaten on 27 off 14 deliveries with Sarfraz ending up reaching the highest score of 76 by a wicket-keeper for Pakistan in T20I's and was declared Man of the Match for his wonderful knock.

All in all a clicnical performance by Pakistan and it was indeed great to see Mohammad Irfan and Raza Hasan back in Pakistan colors. However, the real test may come in the 2nd T20I where Pakistan could lose toss and bat first at the same venue. How they cope with that situation is yet to be seen but for the moment, Shahid Afridi and men will rest easy with a win under their belts.

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