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With Tim Siefert's unbeaten 50 and James Neesham's five-wicket haul hosts New Zealand stormed to victory over Pakistan in the fifth and final T20I of the series at the Sky Stadium held in Wellington on Wednesday.
With this victory, the Blackcaps sealed the five-match series against the Men in Green with a scoreline of 4-1. Neesham was awarded the Player of the Match for his fifer, and Siefert was given the Player of the Series award for his exceptional batting performance throughout the five matches. Chasing a mere total of 129 runs, the Kiwis started very well, making 92/0 in the power-play with Tim Seifert being the aggressor of the two, where he slammed 63 runs off just 26 balls and Finn Allen scored 27 runs from 11 balls. Sufiyan Muqeem gave Pakistan some relief after taking the wicket of Finn Allen in the seventh over. Allen made a contribution of 27 runs in 12 balls with the help of six and five fours. Mark Chapman walked in next to bat after Allen, but he was also dismissed by Muqeem in the ninth over when the team score was 103. After Chapman, Daryl Mitchell walked in and scored 2* (4). In the tenth over, Tim Seifert took charge again over Pakistan's vice-captain Shadab Khan, hitting him for four sixes in an over and taking New Zealand over the winning line. Tim Seifert played a blissful inning of 97 runs in just 37 bowls, with ten sixes and six fours, striking at 255. After Seifert, Chapman was the top scorer for NZ with 27 runs. Muqeem was the pick of the bowlers for Pakistan as he took two wickets and gave away just six runs in two overs of his spell. Besides him, all the other Pakistan bowlers got hampered by the Kiwi batters. Jahandad Khan bowled two overs and gave 43 runs whereas Mohammad Ali bowled two overs and gave 27 runs. Experienced fast bowler Haris Rauf also went wicketless, giving 22 runs in his two overs. Pakistan's vice-captain also had a tough outing, going wicketless and giving away 33 runs in his two overs. Batting first, Pakistan managed to score 128 in their 20 overs. Captain Salman Agha was the only batter to score runs. He smashed a fifty (51 off 39), which led Pakistan to a manageable total. Hasan Nawaz got out in the second over, falling on zero to Jacob Duffy. In the fifth over, Mohammad Haris also got out after scoring 11 runs. The right-hand batter fell to Ben Sears without troubling the score much. Omair Yosuf also got out in the sixth over, falling to Jacob Duffy for seven runs. Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals. Usman Khan and Abdul Samad, both batters, went to the pavilion before the 11th over. Pakistan were 52-5 in the 11th over when Salman Agha and Shadab Khan built a fifty-run partnership before Shadab got out on 28 runs. He gave away his wicket to Neesham. After Shadab, Pakistan went from 106-6 to 123-9 in the next three overs, with Neesham taking all the wickets. Salman Agha was the top scorer for Pakistan, followed by Shadab Khan with 28 (20). Neesham was the pick of the bowler in the Kiwi innings in his four overs he gave away 22 runs and took five wickets, Jacob Duffy also bowled well he took two wickets in four overs and gave away only 18 runs. Ben Sears and Ish Sodhi took a wicket each in their quota of four overs, William ORourke went wicketless but bowled all his four overs with a decent economy of 7.20 giving away 29 runs. Brief scores- Pakistan 128/9 in 20 overs (Salman Agha 51, Shadab Khan 28, James Neesham 5/22) vs New Zealand 131/2 in 10 overs ( Tim Seifert 97*, Finn Allen 27, Sufiyan Muqeem 2/6). (ANI
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