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New Zealand and Bangladesh registered comfortable victories against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively in their warm-up matches on Friday.
The Kiwis will be walking away with a lot of positives with their skipper Kane Williamson returning to the thick of action and scoring 54 while Mark Chapman rising to the challenge with his 65* showcasing New Zealand's squad depth. Pakistan posted a total of 345 in the first innings with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan disrupting the flow of New Zealand's bowling set-up. Babar with his elegance struck 80(84) before being dismissed by Mitchell Santner, while Rizwan walked back to the dugout after scoring 103(94). New Zealand came in the second innings and made the chase look quite easy. Even though Shaheen Shah Afridi did not bowl a single over but they still made it look like a cakewalk. The Blackcaps list Conway to a golden duck early on but his partner Ravindra set the tone with a brilliant knock of 97 and was unlucky to miss out on a well-deserved 100. Williamson got his much-needed batting practice in and retired after scoring his 50. Mitchell and Chapman contributed with the fifties to keep them on the course of the mammoth chase. New Zealand looked in complete control for most parts and made a statement by chasing down 346 with 6.2 overs to spare against a good Pakistan bowling attack. The batters looked quite comfortable on the pitch under lights. Pakistan's Usama Mir with his leg spin carried the bowling threat, but the other Pakistan bowlers did not have anything to trouble New Zealand. While in the other warm-up game, Bangladesh registered a comprehensive victory in the warm-up game against Sri Lanka. A good workout for them with both bat and ball. Sri Lanka opted to bat on a surface that looked ideal for batting and it seemed that a big score would be on the cards after the Lions made a strong start. But from 104/1, regular wickets kept hindering their progress. Mahedi Hasan led the attack for Bangladesh, picking up a three-wicket haul, while Miraz bowled a lovely spell of 1/32 as well in his 10 overs. Due to their efforts, Sri Lanka were restricted to a score of 263. In response, Bangladesh maintained control throughout the chase, starting with a 131-run opening stand between Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan. Tanzid scored 84, Litton 61, and Miraz, who came in at three, scored an unbeaten 67, while Rahim also got a decent performance in the middle with 35* to claim a comfortable 7-wicket victory. Brief Score: Pakistan 345-5 (Mohammad Rizwan 103, Babar Azam 80; Santner 2-31) vs New Zealand 346-5 (Rachin Ravindra 97, Mark Chapman 65; Usama Mir 2-68). (ANI)
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