It was a big day for Pakistan cricket and their veteran openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq, whose 124-run partnership for the first wicket off just 128 balls helped the Men in Green secure an important victory over New Zealand in the first ODI in Rawalpindi on Thursday, April 29.
It was a ninth ODI century for Fakhar, who helped his team chase down the Kiwis' target of 288 which was scored courtesy of Daryl Mitchell's 113 and Will Young's 86. Among the Pakistani bowlers, Naseem Shah was the most economically effective but only took two wickets in the final two balls off the innings to send Rachin Ravindra and Adam Milne back to the pavilion.
The opening stand that was scored by Fakhar and Imam was enough as Babar Azam (49) and Mohammad Rizwan (42) played important cameos to seal what turned out to be an easy victory by five wickets with nine balls remaining.
The Kiwi bowling pair of Adam Milne and Matt Henry could do nothing to take down the bowlers as the Pakistan openers brought up the 100-run partnership in the 19th over. The breakthrough came in the 22nd over off Ish Sodhi's over, in which the spinner catching Imam caught LBW.
But this only led to another long partnership of 90 runs between skipper Babar and Fakhar. Fakhar brought up his century in the 35th over, but Babar fell soon after. In the end, Ravindra brought a close to Fakhar's innings but by then it was too late for the away side.
Earlier, the Pakistan bowlers got Chad Bowes early but failed to break the partnership between Young and Mitchell. Naseem Shah gave away just 29 runs at the rate of 2.90 and bagged two wickets for his efforts as well. This will prove to be a good sign for New Zealand, who might not have Kane Williamson for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India under similar circumstances.
Mitchell’s ODI century may be a solution to New Zealand team management’s headache ahead of the ODI World Cup 2023. With Kane Williamson highly unlikely to recover before the marquee event in India later this year, Mitchell can bat at no.3. Earlier, on the tour, Mitchell struggled to make an impact. He scored 71 runs from five T20I innings at an average of 14.20.
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