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Following 2nd T20I defeat against New Zealand, Pakistan's Salman Agha highlighted the need for improvement in the powerplay,
New Zealand secured a five-wicket win over Pakistan in the second T20I of the five-match series at Dunedin on Tuesday. After losing the first two matches Salman Agha said in the post-match presentation that Pakistan needs to bat well in the powerplay.
He said it was a good game compared to the first, he admired Pakistan's fielding in the match and also praised his bowlers. He spoke about Haris Rauf who took three wickets in the second innings, he felt that Pakistan has to improve in the powerplay with both bat and bowl.
"It was freezing. It was a good game compared to the last game. We batted batter. Fielding was outstanding. Bowling in patches was good. The bounce we need to understand is different. After the powerplay, we bowled well. Haris bowled well. We need to be better in the powerplay. As a batting unit, we need to have better powerplay. And same as a bowling unit as well." Salman Ali Agha said.
NZ won the toss and opted to bowl, Pakistan's top order struggled again facing the Kiwi bowlers only Salman Agha managed to score 46 runs all the other batters failed to score again.
Shadab Khan (26 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Shaheen Afridi (22* in 14 balls, with two fours and a six) contributed some useful runs down the order, bringing Pakistan to 135/9 in 15 overs during the rain-curtailed match. Ben Sears was the pick of the bowlers for NZ he picked with two wickets giving away just 23 runs in his three overs.
During the run-chase of 136 runs, Seifert and Finn started by unleashing carnage, with Allen striking Mohammed Ali for three sixes in the second over and Seifert belting Shaheen Shah Afridi for four sixes in the next over. Both the opener played well but after Seifert and Finn NZ lost wickets quickly until Mitchell Hay scored a vital 21 runs and took NZ to a win with 11 balls and five wickets in hand. Haris Rauf (3/20) was the top bowler for Pakistan. Seifert was given the 'Player of the Tournament' award for his knock.
Pakistan would take solace from the fact that they have done better than the last game. The next game will have the series on the line for Pakistan as New Zealand is leading 2-0 in the thefive-matchh T-20 series.
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