New-look Pakistan fold for 91 as New Zealand seal crushing win

Pakistan’s post Babar-Rizwan era began with a whimpering defeat as New Zealand thrashed the new-look outfit by 9 wickets in the T20 series opener in Christchurch.

Kyle Jamieson (3-8) and Jacob Duffy (4-14) put the Pakistan batsmen to the sword with 7 wickets between them, skittling the visitors out for a measly 91 at the Hagley Oval on Sunday.

Asked to bat first, Pakistan suffered early blows as Jamieson started off with a wicket maiden as openers Mohammad Haris and Hasan Nawaz departed without troubling the scorers.

Jamieson then had Irfan Khan edging behind in the third over as Pakistan slumped to 1 for 3 - their lowest score at the fall of the third wicket.

Tim Robinson then held on to a blinder at backward point to give Jamieson his third as the scoreboard read 11 for 4.

Restricted to 14 for 4 in the powerplay, skipper Salman Agha (18) and Khushdil Shah (32) then rode their luck with some streaky shots, edges and dropped catches.

Halfway into the innings, the pair looked to boost the run rate as Agha smashed Ish Sodhi (2-27) for a boundary before Khushdil clubbed him for the first six of the innings. Khushdil then blasted back-to-back sixes off Michael Bracewell in the following over in a period of ascendancy.

But it was short-lived as Sodhi picked out Agha for an attempted reverse-sweep before Jamieson snared Khushdil with a short ball as Pakistan slumped to 64 for 6.

Debutant Abdul Samad (7) and Jahandad Khan (17) then fell swinging before Duffy snuffed out the tail to restrict Pakistan to the fourth-lowest T20I score by any team in New Zealand.

Tim Seifert (44 off 29 balls) then set the Black Caps off to a blazing start, cracking boundaries off the seamers with pull shots and well-timed drills through the off-side.

Finn Allen (29) was largely a spectator as Seifert hammered 7 boundaries and a six in his innings, but he also joined the party by lofting Jahandad down the ground for a six.

As Pakistan introduced spin, Abrar Ahmed, the only Pakistani wicket-taker, got the better of Seifert with a carrom ball, but by then New Zealand were close to the shore, completing the chase with 9.5 overs remaining.