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| New Zealand vs Pakistan: 'We lost the healthy but Iftikhar received our hearts' |
New Zealand defeated Pakistan by four runs in the third match of the five T20I series after a thrilling encounter.
The entire Pakistan team was bowled out for 159 runs in pursuit of a target of 164 runs.
In the match played in Lahore, New Zealand, batting first against Pakistan, scored 163 runs for the loss of five wickets in the allotted 20 overs and gave the green shirts a target of 164 runs to win.
Pakistan's innings got off to a disappointing start when captain Babar Azam was caught out by Adam Milne after scoring just one run in the second over.
After one over, Mohammad Rizwan was also run out for just six runs.
Pakistan's openers had returned to the pavilion with a total score of 17 runs.
Saim Ayub, the player who came after him, also scored ten runs and was dismissed by Latham off the ball of Neesham. In this way, three wickets of Pakistan had fallen for a total of 39 in the seventh over.
The New Zealand bowlers increased the pressure on the green shirts by taking early wickets at the start of the Pakistani innings.
Fakhar Zaman was also stumped in the ninth over by the wicketkeeper after scoring 17 runs off spinner Ravindra. While Imad Wasim, who came after him, scored just three runs and was caught out by Neesham off the ball of Ravindra.
Pakistan's five wickets had fallen for just 55 runs. Even after that, the Kiwi bowlers kept increasing the pressure on the Pakistan batsmen.
On the last ball of the twelfth over, Shaheen Afridi also got out lbw off Sodhi's ball and returned to the pavilion. He scored only six runs. By that time, Pakistan had lost six wickets at a total score of 64.
The next player out was Shadab Khan who was caught out by Adam Milne trying to play fast on the first ball of the 15th over. Pakistan lost their seventh wicket on a total of 88.
After that, Iftikhar Ahmed and Faheem Ashraf supported the batting line-up and played aggressively to take the match to a thrilling stage.
In the 19th over, Faheem Ashraf was caught out for a total of 149 runs. He scored 27 runs off 14 balls. He was made his prey by Henry.
Pakistan needed 15 runs to win in the last over.
The most prominent innings from Pakistan was played by Iftikhar Ahmed, who completed his half-century in just 20 balls while giving life to the match. He scored 60 runs off 24 balls with the help of six sixes.
He was dismissed in the last over of the match when Pakistan needed five runs from two balls to win.
After him, Pakistan's last player Haris Rauf tried to hit the last ball for a six but failed to hit the ball over the boundary. And lost the wicket on the last ball.
New Zealand's innings
On behalf of New Zealand, captain Tom Latham played an inning of 64 runs, while apart from him, Derry Mitchell was prominent by scoring 33 and 17 runs.
New Zealand's innings got off to a disappointing start and Kiwis opener Chad Bose was bowled for seven runs.
The other player to get out was Will Young who scored 17 runs and lost his wicket to Shadab Khan.
On behalf of Pakistan, fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf took two wickets each
One change has been made to Pakistan's squad, with Naseem Shah replacing Zaman Khan, while two changes have been made to the Kiwi's squad, with Adam Milne and Ash Sodhi returning.
It should be noted that Pakistan has a 1-2 lead in the series after New Zealand's win in the third T20 match.
Iftikhar's discussions on social media
After Pakistan's batting line completely failed in the match played between Pakistan and New Zealand, when Iftikhar Ahmed played an aggressive game in the last five overs of the match, Pakistani cricket fans started hoping for a win.
Iftikhar Ahmed spoiled the line and length of the Kiwi's bowlers by playing fast and completed his half-century in just 20 balls. At that time, fans in the stadium were heard chanting his name during the match.
Undoubtedly, if we talk about Pakistani batting in today's match, Iftikhar Ahmed's innings were the best.
Cricketer Azam Khan tweeted about Iftikhar Ahmed's innings today and wrote 'I have seen one of the best T20 innings today, we all are sad that he could not finish the game but I am very proud of Iftikhar Bhai's performance. Be happy for.'
A user named Avanash wrote, "Even though the game continued to be very close and very far, Iftikhar Ahmed and Faheem Ashraf played well and Pakistani fans should be proud of their team as Pakistan lost a fight."
Commenting on today's match, another user wrote, 'Down one minute and up the next, Pakistan cricket at its best.'
While a user named Mian Umar commented on Iftikhar's batting and wrote that 'We lost the match but Iftikhar won our hearts.'
Another user wrote that 'Musbah always talked about feeding Iftikhar and today we should apologize to him because he saw talent in Iftikhar that we were not aware of.'
Commenting on Iftikhar Ahmed's aggressive batting, a user named Nimra Patel said, 'Unbelievable batting by Iftikhar Ahmed.'
While a user named Hamza Mir, commenting on Iftikhar's batting, said that there is no doubt that Iftikhar should be in the ODI team in the World Cup.