Mitch Hay’s career-best innings (99* off 78), followed by a clinical bowling performance helped New Zealand to seal the ODI series with 84-run win over Pakistan in the second ODI in Hamilton.
Put into bat, New Zealand were in a position of strife at 132/5. But Hay's masterclass propelled them to a tall score of 292.
In reply, Pakistan were 32/5 in no time. From there, the result was inevitable. Fifties from Faheem Ashraf (73 off 80) and concussion sub Naseem Shah (51* off 44) only delayed the inevitable defeat.
Earlier on, Pakistani skipper, Mohammad Rizwan won a good toss under overcast conditions. But his new-ball bowlers failed to deliver the goods. As a result, New Zealand raced away to 50 inside six overs.
New Zealand lost their way in the middle overs. However, Hay started the rebuilding process with Muhammad Abbas (41 of 66) with the pair initially taking a lot of time to settle in. However, once they got set, runs started to flow for the Black Caps. Their 77-run partnership was crucial for Newzeland.
Hay then singlehandedly managed the innings for the last 10.1 overs. He ensured that the home side would go on to bat the entire 50 overs and gradually upped the ante in the final overs.
The task was daunting and Pakistan's top-five did not help the cause as they all fell for single digits. From 32/5, there was no going back. Gutsy knock from Ashraf and others only helped Pakistan to score more than 200.
Brief scores: New Zealand 292/7 in 50 overs (Mitch Hay 99*, Muhammad Abbas 41; Sufiyan Muqeem 2-33) beat Pakistan 208 in 41.2 overs (Faheem Ashraf 73, Naseem Shah 51; Ben Sears 5-59) by 84 runs.
Source: Input from Cricbuzz and others
bd-pratidin/Rafid
