 |
| If there was a textbook of ODI cricket, Fakhar's century would have been called perfect. |
The Pakistan cricket team beat New Zealand by five wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series to take a one-nil lead in the series and somewhat redeemed the disappointing end to the T20I series.
In the first ODI of the series played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, captain Babar Azam won the toss and invited New Zealand to bat first.
In the conversation after the toss, Pakistan team captain Babar Azam said that the wicket would be better in the second innings and then it happened.
Playing first on a slightly easier pitch, New Zealand scored 288 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 50 overs, after which Pakistan easily achieved the target for the loss of five wickets.
For Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman completed his ninth century with the help of 13 fours and a six and was supported by first Imamul Haq and then Babar Azam who scored 60 and 49 runs respectively.
On Fakhar Zaman's performance, a social media user wrote that 'If there was a textbook of ODI cricket, this century would have been described as the best in pursuit of the target without taking any risks.'
Fakhar Zaman got the man of the match award for his innings while Babar Azam also completed 12 thousand runs in international cricket in this innings. Thus, 500 victories of the Pakistan cricket team in one-day matches were completed.
The Pakistan team has won this honor after a total of 950 ODI matches.
However, Mohammad Rizwan also played an important role on behalf of Pakistan. After Fakhar Zaman got out, Shan Masood got out for just one run and Agha Salman got out for seven runs, so the run rate suffered a slow pace.
In such a situation, it was Mohammad Rizwan who saved Pakistan from suffering any further difficulties and played an inning of 42 runs off 34 balls.
His innings included six fours and one six.
In his performance, Usman Aziz wrote that the criticism of Muhammad Rizwan is incomprehensible. In the last match of the T20 series, the bowling was bad but Rizwan was criticized but today he proved that he can be trusted when the situation is difficult.
Earlier, Kiwi opener Will Young and middle-order batsman Daryl Mitchell put on a brilliant batting display with 86 and 113 respectively.
However, Mark Chapman, who scored a century in the last match of the T20 series, could not show his magic this time and scored only 15 runs and was bowled by Haris Roof.
Despite a good start, New Zealand couldn't score fast in the last 10 overs.
At 222 in the 40th over, New Zealand still had eight wickets left but Tom Latham got out in the same over after which the series of wickets fell at intervals affecting the run rate.
When 50 overs were completed, New Zealand's total score was 288, meaning that the Kiwi batsmen could score only 66 runs in the last 10 overs.
New Zealand captain Tom Latham admitted after the match that his total was low.
Naseem Shah played an important role in this bowling performance who bowled well overall in today's ODI and conceded only 29 runs in his 10 overs.
Meanwhile, Pakistani fast bowler Naseem Shah took the title of most wickets in the first six ODI matches. He got this honor by taking 2 wickets on the last two balls of the last over of the match.
Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf also took two wickets each.
It should be noted that Naseem Shah has taken 20 wickets in the first six matches of his career. Earlier this honor was held by New Zealand's Matt Henry who took 19 wickets in the first six matches.