The series now stands 2-2 with the final game to be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Pakistan top order again failed to make an impact leaving too much for the middle and late order to do. It is to the credit of the rest of the batsmen that Pakistan got as close to the total as they did eventually. Pakistan bowlers also gave away too many runs in the final overs and that is another area which Pakistan will need to address if they are to lift the ODI series trophy on Friday.

By Azfar Khan (17th December,2014)

The fourth match of the series kicked off with New Zealand winning the toss and opting to bat. Kane Williamson made few changes as Vettori, Milne and Brownlie were included in place of Neesham, Devcich and McCullum. For Pakistan, Nasir Jamshed and Anwar Ali came in for Asad Shafiq and Wahab Riaz.

New Zealand opened with Dean Brownlie and Martin Guptill who faced Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Irfan in the opening overs. Tanvir was taken on by the Kiwi openers earlier on when they struck 5 boundaries off him in his four over spell. Irfan had a tidy wicket-less spell but the flying start forced Shahid Afridi to bring on Anwar and himself in to the attack. Runs continued to be scored by odd boundaries on Anwar and Afridi but runs per over started to come down for the Kiwis.

Openers made a 81 run stand before Afridi got Brownlie's wicket when he was caught by short mid wicket fielder Umar for 42 runs. Williamson walked in next at 3, Anwar was hit for one more boundary by Guptill before the bowler was replaced by Haris who went for over 14 runs in his first over. Some quick bowling changes were then made by Afridi as Guptill continued to score freely. First he brought on Irfan and then Tanvir was put back into the attack. Guptill reached to his half century but couldn't continue for long as he edged one to Sarfraz on Tanvir's bowling.

Score was 125/2 when Ross Taylor joined Williamson. The flow of runs by boundaries had stopped with Guptill's dismissal and now the two batsman looked to build a solid foundation. Part time spinners were milked for singles and doubles and they took the scoreboard to 174 before the start of the powerplay. Score was 188 when Taylor nicked Irfan's delivery to Sarfraz for a personal score of 26.

Anderson walked in next but could only hit a six during his stay at the crease. He got out (23) trying to hit Anwar out of the park but could only find the long-on fielder Akmal who has a safe pair of hands. The score was 227 when Tom Latham arrived, the two had a 72 run stand where Williamson scored 55 in no time and brought up his hundred and Latham from the other hand supported the partnership with 14 runs to his name. Williamson was clean bowled on the last delivery of the Kiwi innings when Ifran bowled him with a yorker for 123 runs. New Zealand had thus played out their 50 overs for a score of 299/5, thereby setting a target of 300 to chase.

Pakistan started their chase with Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad opening as they faced bowling duo of Henry and Milne. Jamshed picked three runs in front of point to get off the mark. Shehzad was bowled for 0 with a beauty on the fourth delivery off Henry's over. Younis Khan walked in next at 3 where he had to face some high quality overs of pace bowling especially from Milne that did make his life difficult whereas Jamshed looked better against pacers at the crease when he hit two boundaries in three deliveries off Henry.

McClenaghan and Anderson were introduced into the attack and Younis had started to pace his innings when he hit both of them for three boundaries in three overs. However, just when the partnership stand started to look promising Pakistan lost another wicket to kill the momentum. Jamshed charged Anderson for a huge six only to get completely beaten on the next delivery, it was a slow delivery from Anderson and Nasir was struck LBW for 30.

Pakistan were 52/3 when Hafeez walked in but he could only add 3 runs to the team total before edging Vettori's delivery to Ronchi. Score was 59/3 when Haris Sohail joined Younis. Pakistan at this time were desperate for a partnership from these two but Haris' stay was limited to just2 boundaries. Only 23 runs were added by their partnership as Haris misjudged Vettori's pace and lofted ond over long on where Latham caught him for 13 runs.

Score was 82/4 when Umar Akmal arrived. Pakistan brought up their hundred during their stay where as Younis completed his half century in 71 deliveries. Partnership continued to build for the two as now runs had started to flow a bit easily for Pakistan, Younis and Akmal rotated the strike aggressively in the middle part of overs and boundaries were hit during the powerplay especially from Younis.

The two had a 90 run stand before Akmal was dismissed in an unlucky dismissal as Younis straight drive deflected from bowlers hand straight into the stumps which resulted in Akmal being run out. He was dismissed for 29. Score was 172/5 when Afridi arrived and immediately the the momentum started to shift in Pakistan's favor as boundaries and sixes started coming quickly which helped Pakistan getting the required run rate in control. Younis reached to his hundred with a single and the whole dressing room applauded the knock from the senior batsman.

The two had a 66 run stand before Afridi got dismissed on 49 when he edged Milne's delivery to the wicket-keeper. Pakistan's score was 238/5 when Sarfraz Ahmed arrived, who straight away hit two boundaries on Milne. Williamson brought the experienced Vettori into the attack, who gave his team a major a breakthrough when he bowled Younis for 103. 

Tanvir walked in next at 254/7 but Sarfraz was dismissed next when he top edged a pull shot straight in to the gloves of Ronchi on McClenaghan's bowling. Anwar Ali walked in at 10 and the two all rounders had the big task to finish things off for Pakistan. Three fours by Anwar Ali and 1 four by Tanvir brought the game close. Eventually, Pakistan needed 11 runs in 3 deliveries but Anwar couldn't finish the game off and Pakistan failed to chase the target by 7 runs.

The series now stands 2-2 with the final game to be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Pakistan top order again failed to make an impact leaving too much for the middle and late order to do. It is to the credit of the rest of the batsmen that Pakistan got as close to the total as they did eventually. Pakistan bowlers also gave away too many runs in the final overs and that is another area which Pakistan will need to address if they are to lift the ODI series trophy on Friday.

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