With transfer of powers at the helm of affairs in Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the tweak in the approach is evidently visible.
Pakistan are on a roll here in the T20 World Cup.
A few days back, a furious Rameez Raja, who is the new chairman of the PCB had said that apart from India, the Pakistan team will also target New Zealand and England in the World Cup.
England and New Zealand had abandoned their respective tours to Pakistan citing security concerns.
And here they are.
The Babar Azam-led side has partially walked the talk. They thumped India by 10 wickets in the tournament opener and have carried the form against the Blackcaps as well in the second game of the competition as well. Pakistan have moved at the top of the table in Group 2 with two wins on the trot.
Captain Babar had given a small speech in the dressing room after the victory against India where he clearly stated that the players shouldn’t get complacent as that was just the start of the tournament and should keep the focus. Well, the team has surely responded to the skipper’s words.
After winning the toss on Tuesday in Sharjah, Babar asked the Kiwi to bat first. They were off to a decent start after the opener Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell put 36 on the board for the first wicket before Guptill was sent back in the hut by Haris Rauf for 17 off 20.
The right-hander’s departure certainly broke the shackles and New Zealand lost a couple of more wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 56/3 before Kane Williamson who had come in at number was joined by Devon Conway in the middle.
The two batsmen then steadied the ship for the side and chipped in with a 34-run partnership for the fourth wicket. New Zealand were looking steady when Williamson and Conway were at the crease but a sheer brilliance from Hasan Ali changed the complexion of the game upside down.
The pacer hit the bull’s eye on the striker’s end and scalped Williamson’s wicket for 25 off 26 who fell short of the crease and was sent back to the dugout. The New Zealand team never really made a comeback from then on as Haris Rauf ripped apart the middle order to remove Conway, Glenn Phillips and Santner in the later stages of the innings.
Williamson’s side eventually could manage to score 134/8 in 20 overs. Rauf picked up a total of 4 wickets for 22 runs in 4 overs. Apart from Rauf, Shaheen Afridi returned with figures of 1/24 in 4 overs while Imad Wasim also scalped a wicket at the cost of 24 runs in his allotted four overs.
Later, Pakistan openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar were off to a cautious start but couldn’t replicate what they did against India. Babar was cleaned up by Tim Southee for 9 off 11 when the team score read 28. And as they say, one wicket brings another. New Zealand began to pick wickets at regular intervals and left Pakistan struggling at 87/5 in the 15th over.
But what unleashed next was simply a nightmare for the Kiwi bowlers. Shoaib Malik and Asif Ali first made sure that there was no fall of wickets and then Asif just went after the bowling unit to hammer them all around the park.
He struck an unbeaten 27 off 12 which included three maximums and a four during the course of the match. Malik also returned not out for 26 off 20 deliveries as Pakistan went over the line by 5 wickets in 18.4 overs.
Haris Rauf’s excellence
Pakistan have been known to produce some emphatic fast bowlers over the years and they still continue to do so. While Shaheen Afridi rattled India in the first match, Rauf was the one to make headlines with his bowling in the second match.
Riding on variations in the pace, Rauf trusted the lengths completely and executed perfect plans against New Zealand. An instance of perfection was Santner’s wicket. The ball pitched short of the length just hit the top of the stump.
The right-hander bowled around full and good length areas and pitched a few short just to surprise the batsmen.
What a way to stamp authority.
Depth in batting
Pakistan have now played two games and had totally contrasting run chases. But the second chase against New Zealand gives you the sense of how deep Pakistan's batting is.
While Rizwan and Babar can provide them with steady starts, the experienced Shoaib Malik or Mohammad Hafeez would take up the responsibility to stick around and this is what Malik did today.
Later, he was joined by Asif Ali who has some brutal strokes in his armour which are helpful in increasing the scoring-rate.
For now and especially after this win, Pakistan seems to be the most stable unit at the moment.
New Zealand captain Williamson was disappointed with the loss and admitted that they were optimistic at the halfway mark.
“It is very disappointing. We were optimistic at the halfway stage. It was going to be really tough, we were a boundary or two at being above par. There were small margins, but we couldn't nail it at the back end. Credit to Pakistan, they are a strong side and were very smart,” he said in the post-match presentation.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam expressed delight after the win and especially lauded the fielding effort in the middle.
“Feels great to win and we'll look to carry forward the confidence. The spinners started off brilliantly, and Haris and Shaheen carried it through. I would like to compliment our fielding, that has carried us through here,” he said.
Pakistan will now play Afghanistan in Dubai on Friday while New Zealand will be up against India on Sunday at the same venue.