In the series-decider at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Pakistan posted 193/5 after being asked to bat first. Mohammad Rizwan top-scored for the side with 98 unbeaten runs off just 62 balls. Iftikhar Ahmed scored 36 off 22, and Imad Wasim scored 31 off 14 towards the end.
Pacer Blair Tickner picked three wickets for four wickets. In reply, the New Zealand top-order collapsed and were reduced to 26 for 3 before Mark Chapman smashed unbeaten 104 off 57 and Jimmy Neesham’s blitz saw him score unbeaten 25 runs off 45 deliveries. Hosts chased the target with four balls to spare.
PAK vs NZ 5th T20I: Player Of The Match
Player of the Match (5th T20I): Mark Chapman (290 runs for him in five innings at a strike-rate of 165.7)
Player of the Series: Mark Chapman
PAK vs NZ: Who Said What
Babar Azam (Pakistan captain): I think we were 10-15 runs short after Rizwan revived the innings for us through the middle phases. The way Iftikhar performed in the batting department has been a major boost for us. Same goes for Imad how he carried his form from the PSL and chipped in with both bat and ball, it’s been really helpful. We have a lot of positives from the series, especially how the young guns have come out and expressed. We have also understood the areas where we are lacking and we will try to improve. Special knock this from Chapman, congratulations to him. We will look to switch on for the ODIs and give our best there.
Tom Latham (New Zealand captain): One of the best innings a lot of us have ever seen, hats off to Chapman. They [Neesham and Chapman] just worked out their partnership really well and kept piling the pressure back on the opponents. We spoke about how we want to improve from game to game. The prep for us wasn’t ideal coming in but it’s mightily satisfying that we ended with a series draw after being two-nil down. Unfortunately, Chapman is heading home [on being asked if Chapman is staying for the ODIs]. It’s going to be a challenging ODI series and we are looking forward to the new challenge.
Mark Chapman (MoM and MoS): We are very happy with how we levelled the series tonight and finished the job. It took a bit of adjusting in the first two games and it’s great to see that it worked out well. I was pretty thankful that Jimmy Neesham came out all-guns-blazing and took some pressure off me as well.
PAK vs NZ T20Is: Stats and Records
Mark Chapman top-scored in the series with 290 runs, and Mohammad Rizwan (162) scored the second-highest runs
Mark Chapman and Babar Azam slammed a hundred each in the series
Haris Rauf picked the most number of wickets in the series. He picked 11 wickets at an average of 13.63 and an economy rate of 7.75
Imad Wasim was the second on the list with eight wickets at an average of 10.37 and an economy of 5.92
Matt Henry (6) scalped the most number of wickets for New Zealand.
