Guptill hit eight boundaries and three sixes during his knock of 82
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New Zealand opener Martin Guptill and batsman Kane Williamson both scored half-centuries to not only lead their side to a three-wicket win over Pakistan via the Duckworth-Lewis method, but also a 2-0 series win.
Pakistan captain Azhar Ali would have been fairly content with his decision to bat first as Babar Azam and Mohammad Hafeez both made excellent contributions.
Hafeez made a gutsy 76
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The former made 83 off 77 balls, which included 10 boundaries and a six, while the latter scored 76 off 60 deliveries, which included five boundaries and five sixes.
Azam scored a valiant 83
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Thanks to wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed’s 41 and Shoaib Malik’s 32, Pakistan managed to reach 290 before they were bowled out.
Adam Milne was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets, while Matt Henry and Trent Boult snapped up two wickets apiece. Corey Anderson and Mitchell Santner meanwhile chipped in with one wicket each.
Chasing 263 to win off 43 overs due to heavy rain, New Zealand were buoyed by Guptill and Williamson after losing captain Brendon McCullum for a golden duck on his comeback.
Guptill scored 82 off 81 balls, which included eight boundaries and three sixes, while Williamson made 84 off 86 deliveries, which included nine boundaries and three sixes.
Williamson made his 24th ODI fifty
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Once Guptill and Williamson were back in the pavilion, New Zealand struggled for a while as they lost Henry Nicholls and Grant Elliott. However, Anderson and Luke Ronchi steered the Black Caps back on the right track with scores of 35 and 20 respectively before Santner mopped up the remaining runs to lead New Zealand to victory.
Ali and Mohammad Amir took two wickets apiece, while Malik, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan claimed one wicket each.
Ali was disappointed to have lost the game, and said: “We played good cricket, batted really well but could not finish the way we wanted, but we had enough on the board to defend. We were short. By the way we were going, we should have got 30-40 runs [more]. We lost crucial wickets at times but 290 is a tricky score on this track. We tried hard but credit to New Zealand.”
McCullum was delighted to have won the series 2-0, and said: “It was a really good game, we were under pressure when we had the ball in hand, Pakistan looked set for 340-350, I thought the way we closed off our bowling certainly helped our batting … another wonderful stand from Kane and Gup and then it came down to a couple of important moments. We had a bit of luck at the end … 290 is still a lot of runs and you have to bat well to chase it down. The rain probably helped us at the end, when it shortens the game it favours the batting team…not too bad, got through it (when asked about his time in the field).”
Guptill was named Man of the Match, and said: “A tough wicket to get your timing on. Pretty happy with the record, more happy with the win. Surface was a bit slow, hopefully the groundsman can bring it back up for Wednesday (against Australia).”