"Babar's Brilliant Century Levels Series for Pakistan

April 16, 2023, Lahore: Babar Azam's third century and Haris Rauf's fourth four-wicket haul saw Pakistan beat New Zealand by 38 runs in the second Twenty20 International at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Saturday night. This was Pakistan's second progressive success over the Kiwis in the T20I series. The home side are booked to play the third T20I on a similar stage on Monday night and lead the five-match series 2-0.

Opting to bat first, the opening set of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam opened the innings with a strong 99, with Rizwan bringing up his 24th 50 in that configuration from 29 balls, smashing seven fours and a six. . He was out first in the 11th over when Daryl Mitchell caught Matt Henry, who had taken a hat-trick in the previous game.

Henry was well on his way to another full-off when he sent Fakhar Zaman back to the hut extremely next ball but was denied by Saim Ayub's left-footed full-off which prevented the final package of the eleventh over. However, Saim was run out in the eleventh over without scoring any runs. All-rounder Imad Wasim was excused in the middle (2 off 5) with the home side in disarray with the scoreboard on 105 for four in 12.5 overs.

Iftikhar Ahmed joined captain and man of the match Babar at the crucial moment of the innings and both continued to score at will. The pair added 87 runs in 43 balls for the fifth wicket, including Iftikhar's unbeaten 33 runs in 19 balls, including one four and three sixes. Babar, on the other hand, was the star of the match, not only scoring his third century in T20Is but also becoming the first captain to score three centuries in the format. This was also Babar's second T20I century at home, with his most memorable century coming against Britain in Karachi seven months ago.

Babar, the third-ranked ICC T20I batsman, scored his half-century in 36 balls, including six fours, to the delight of a near-large crowd in Lahore. He then hit seven fours and one six to remain unbeaten on 101 off 58 balls, scoring the remaining 51 runs off just 22 balls.

The Lahore-born batsman needed to score seven runs off the last two balls of his innings to reach his third century, which he did admirably by scoring two boundaries in the same ball.

This contributed to Pakistan's second highest total at the Gaddafi Stadium, 192 for four.

In New Zealand, Henry finished with figures of two for 29 from four overs.

In return, the tourists were denied scoring freely as they attempted to win by 193 runs at the required run of 9.65.

Despite not losing a single wicket in the batting powerhouse, the Kiwis managed to score just 43 runs. After losing their captain Tom Latham in the seventh over of 20-ball 19, the travelers never recovered to chase down the target and lost wickets at regular intervals.

Latham's opening partner Chad Bowes scored 26 off 24, including three fours. Mark Chapman's unbeaten innings of 65 off 40 balls with four fours and as many sixes was largely responsible for the Kiwis' ability to score 154 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.

Pakistan's right-arm fast bowler Haris Rauf impressed again with back-to-back four-wicket hauls. He took four wickets and gave away 27 runs in his four overs. In the main T20I, Haris took four wickets for 18 runs in 3.3 overs.

Summary Score:

Pakistan beat New Zealand by 38 runs

Pakistan 192-4, 20 overs (Babar Azam 101 not out, Mohammad Rizwan 50, Iftikhar Ahmed 33 not out; Matt Henry 2-29) New Zealand won by 154 runs in 20 overs (Mark Chapman scored 65 and Chad Bowes 26; Haris Rauf 4 -27)

Man of the Match - Babar Azam (Pakistan