Sarfraz Ahmed leads Pakistan to 7-wicket win against New Zealand in 1st T20I at Dubai

Dec 5, 2014

Pakistan registered a comfortable seven-wicket victory against New Zealand in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) at Dubai. Pakistan made a great start to their chase, with both Awais Zia and Sarfraz Ahmed dispatching Mitchell McClenaghan for a boundary each in the second over. Both of them formed a 51-run partnership, until Zia was run out.

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Mohammad Hafeez was run out shortly after, but Sarfraz and Haris Sohail made sure that a collapse didn’t happen. The duo formed a quickfire 37-run partnership to take Pakistan close to victory. Haris was followed by Umar Akmal, whose inconsistency with the bat has disappointed many of his fans. He came good with the bat, and finished the match with an emphatic six.

Sarfraz’s half-century was filled with some attacking shots that were pleasing to the eye. He made sure that the visitors never got a whiff of coming back into the match, and totally dominated the Kiwi bowlers. Earlier, Pakistan skipper, Shahid Afridi elected to bowl after winning the toss and the decision served well as they managed make inroads into the New Zealand top-order in the first three overs.

Brief scores:

New Zealand 135 for 7 (Martin Guptill 32, Corey Anderson 48, Luke Ronchi 33; Sohail Tanvir 2 for 24) lost to Pakistan 140 for 3 (Sarfraz Ahmed 76*, Umar Akmal 27*; Mitchell McClenaghan 1 for 21) by 7 wickets.

Man of the Match: Sarfraz Ahmed

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