New Zealand maintained their winning streak against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy as they got 4 out of 4. They won the match by 60 runs.
It was the inaugural match where the Kiwis got the upper hand. The match was between Group A teams.
NZ scored 320/5 in 50 overs while in return the hosting nation managed 260/10 runs in 47.2 overs.
Pakistan after winning the toss chooses to bowl first as the condition favours batter more.
Blackcaps lost 3 wickets at the score of 73, then a solid partnership built between Tom Latham (118 runs) and Will Young (107 runs). Both of them added 118 runs for the 4th wicket.
Latham after a little slow start got his rhythm and took 104 balls in which he hit 10 fours and 3 sixes. He remained unbeaten till the end and his brilliant runs streak in Karachi goes on. Young came as an opener since Rachin Ravindra didn’t play and he took the opportunity very well as he played 113 balls and hit 12 fours and a six.
Glenn Phillips finished off the things well for the team with his destructive knock of 61 runs in 34 balls where he hit 3 fours and 4 sixes. Due to his hard hitting the team went past the 300 mark.
Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf both got 2 wickets each.
During the chase, the host nation struggled a lot. In 20 overs they only got past 60 and had a run rate of just above 3. During this they lost 2 wickets.
Khushdil Shah was the top scorer from the side as he got 69 runs in 49 deliveries where he hit 10 fours and a six. At the time of his batting he tried to set up the momentum but the asking rate was going very high.
Babar Azam (64 runs) also got a half-century but he took 90 balls to reach there. He has a strike rate of 71.11 which certainly puts pressure on the other end. Salman Agha also showed his hard hitting skills after hitting 42 runs in 28 balls.
Skipper Mitchell Santner and William ORourke got 3 wickets each while Matt Henry picked 2.
Tom Latham, New Zealand, Player of the Match
Latham profile credits: cricbuzz.com