Pakistan defeated New Zealand by a huge margin of 7 wickets in the second match of the five-match T20I series. The hosts won the match with only 90 runs and 47 balls in hand, and the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the series.

Earlier, the first T20 match ended with just 2 balls to spare. Even though that match was postponed due to rain, Pakistan got a great result on Saturday night.

After losing the toss at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Pakistan’s bowlers did not allow any of the New Zealand batters to settle on the pitch. The Kiwis continued to lose wickets at regular intervals after losing their first wicket by 16 runs. None of the visiting team’s batsmen could even touch the 20-run mark.

Pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi struck first in the New Zealand camp. Tim Seifert, who scored 12 runs off 10 balls, was caught by Shadab Khan.

The next hit is Mohammad Amir’s return to international cricket. Another Kiwi opener, Tim Robinson, who scored 4 runs off 4 balls, was caught by Iftekhar Ahmed.

Amir made Dean Foxcroft his second victim when he came to bowl in his next over. The Kiwi batsman was caught by Babar Azam after scoring 13 runs off 14 balls off this left-handed pacer.

Mark Chapman, who scored the highest 19 runs (16 balls) of the Kiwis’ innings, was picked up by legspinner Abrar Ahmed. He was caught by Saim Ayyub. Besides, Cole McConsie scored 15 runs off 18 balls. Finally, New Zealand was all out for 90 runs.

In response, Pakistan was shocked at the beginning. The hosts lost their first wicket by 4 runs. After that, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan scored 37 runs in 27 balls and Pakistan started walking towards victory. When Babar was dismissed for 14 runs off 13 balls, Rizwan made an unbeaten partnership of 36 runs with Irfan Khan to bring the team to victory. He scored 45 runs off 34 balls.

Shaheen Afridi took 3 wickets for 13 runs for Pakistan. Amir and Abrar Ahmed took two wickets each. Ben Lister, Michael Bracewell and Ish Sodhi took one wicket each for New Zealand.