Seifert shines as New Zealand outclass Pakistan in final T20I

WELLINGTON: Tim Seifert scored blistering 97 as New Zealand thrashed Pakistan Pakistan in the final encounter of the five-match T20I series at Sky Stadium, Wellington, today (Wednesday). 

After winning the toss New Zealand opted to field first against Pakistan and restricted the visitors to 128 in 20 overs.

New Zealand made one change for the final clash, with Ben Sears coming in for Zakary Foulkes.

Pakistan, meanwhile, made several changes with Usman Khan and Omair bin Yousuf coming in to the bating line-up, while Jahandad Khan, Sufiyan Muqeem and Mohammad Ali form part of the bowling attack as Irfan Khan, Khushdil Shah, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Afridi and Abrar Ahmed all sit out.

As the green shirts came to bat, Mohammad Haris, who scored a scratchy 11 off 17, was removed by Ben Sears, bringing Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha to the crease.

Meanwhile, Duffy dismissed Omair Bin Yousuf (7) to leave the Green Shirts reeling at 25-3 inside the power play.

Salman remained unfazed on his end as he lost two more partners before vice-captain Shadab Khan joined him and added 54 runs for the sixth wicket.

James Neesham broke the budding stand with the wicket of Shadab, who scored 28 runs from 20 deliveries with the help of five boundaries.

The hosts secured the five-match series 3-1 after bowling out the Men in Green for 105 runs as they were chasing a daunting total of 221 in the fourth T20I.

Playing XI

New Zealand: Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Mitch Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell (c), Ish Sodhi, Jacob Duffy, Ben Sears, Will O’Rourke

Pakistan : Salman Ali Agha (c), Mohammad Haris (wk), Hasan Nawaz, Omair Bin Yousuf, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Abdul Samad, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Mohammad Ali