Pakistan win by 6 Wickets

Pakistan win by 6 Wickets

An unbelievable bowling performance by Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul (5/6) helped Pakistan to stay alive in the series by beating New Zealand comfortably by six wickets. Umar Gul was unplayable and most importantly he became the first bowler to take five for in Twenty20 Internationals. Abdul Razzak who makes his comeback to this game after almost two years strikes with his fourth delivery of his very first over to remove dangerous looking B.McCullum (12 runs of 6 balls) to give New Zealand their first blow then in his third over he removed M.Guptill (8 runs of 8 balls) to skittle the New Zealand top order, which was followed by Umar Gul magical bowling spell. Umar Gul was twice on hat-trick but luckily for New Zealand he missed the hat-trick chance on both the occasions. Those two spells sandwiched a period when the spinners choked the life out of the middle order as a weakened New Zealand, missing Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor, stumbled to a meagre total on a belter of a pitch at The Oval. In the end New Zealand bowled out for 99 in 18.3 overs, which gives Pakistan more than a chance to bounce back in the tournament. Pakistanis openers started well blasting 36 runs in first four overs and in the end Shahid Afridi finished the run chase with his brisk inning of 29 runs of 18 balls. S.Hasan (35 runs of 28 balls) also made a decent contribution in the small run chase. Pakistan achieved the target in 13.1 overs but despite of heavy loss New Zealand net run-rate is still better than the rest of the team in the Group and that must be taken care seriously in the coming matches by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Umar Gul was declared Player-of-the-Match for his record bowling performance of 5/6. Match Summary (Pakistan won by 6 Wickets) New Zealand – 99/10 in 18.3 Overs Scott Styris- 22 A.Redmond –15 Umar Gul– 3-0-6-5 Abdul Razzak- 3.3-1-17-2 Pakistan– 100/4 in 13.1 Overs Shahzaib Hasan- 35 S.Afridi–29* D.Vettori– 4-0-20-2 K.Mills- 4-0-28-1