New Zealand's Tim Seifert showed exemplary levels of athleticism in the fifth and final T20I of the series against Pakistan. Being a wicketkeeper-batter, Seifert is used to putting full-length dives to either side to take a catch. Against Pakistan veteran left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir, Seifert chasing a delivery well outside off stump and was called a wide.
The incident took place in the sixth over of New Zealand's run chase at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. On the first ball, Seifert played an upper cut over backward point to find the boundary. On the next delivery, he tried to take it away from Seifert. But the Kiwi batter dived to get bat on ball. At one point, he was parallel to the ground. The video of Seifert has gone viral on social media.
Amir followed it up with another wide. This time Seifert did not put in a dive. However, Amir could not escape Seifert who was looking to make the most of fielding restrictions. He was hit for two more fours in the over. Amir conceded 14 runs in his second over. New Zealand were 63/1 after powerplay overs with Seifert doing the bulk of scoring.
In the next over, Seifert ran a couple of runs to reach his half-century from 30 deliveries. In Amir's next over, Seifert was deceived by the googly and got bowled. He scored 52 runs from 33 deliveries including seven fours and a couple of sixes.
Pakistan level T20I series
After Seifert's wicket, New Zealand suffered a batting collapse. James Neesham contributed with a cameo but Josh Clarkson ran out of partners. New Zealand were bowled out for 169 with four balls left in the innings. While Amir remained wicketless, Shaheen Afridi picked up four wickets as Pakistan won the game by nine runs to equal the five-T20I series 2-2.
Seifert’s run in the series
This was Seifert’s first half-century of the T20I series. He scored 33 runs from three innings. In the first T20I of the series, he remained unbeaten for a duck as the game was abandoned due to rain after just two deliveries.
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