Thaindian News

Bridgetown (Barbados, West Indies), May 8 (ANI): Bowling with good control and discipline, Pakistan on Saturday restricted New Zealand to 133-7 off their 20 overs in their World Twenty20 Super Eight match at Kensington Oval here.

Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman claimed 2-19 while pacer Mohammad Sami grabbed 2-25. Captain Shahid Afridi also picked up 2-29 with his legspin.

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori topscored with 38 off 34 balls while opener Brendon McCullum supplied 33 off 29 deliveries, the Dawn reported.

The Kiwis began brightly after being sent in by Afridi, as McCullum hit five fours and dominated an opening stand of 34.

But once Sami claimed Jesse Ryder on 7 to a catch at deep square leg, the innings faltered badly.

Martin Guptill had 2 when he fell to a fantastic running catch at long-on by Umar Akmal off Rehman at 41-2.

Pakistan tightened the screws as Sami added the wicket of Ross Taylor for 3, and McCullum top-edged Rehman to deep square leg at 58-4.

Vettori and Scott Styris fashioned a mini-recovery in a fifth-wicket stand of 40 off 32 balls. Styris hit 21 off 17 balls before Afridi derailed the innings again.

Styris struck a four and a six before he dragged on and Garteh Hopkins (2) miscued a slog-sweep to midwicket. Vettori was run out in the final over after lashing two sixes and one four.

Both New Zealand and Pakistan lost their opening matches in the Super Eights and the loser of this match faces a difficult task to qualify for the semifinals.

The match is important for both sides after they lost their opening second round Group E fixtures here on Thursday.

New Zealand went down by 13 runs to South Africa, while Pakistan suffered a six-wicket loss to England.

Both sides have made two changes each following those defeats.

New Zealand brought in pace bowlers Ian Butler and Kyle Mills to replace fellow seamers Tim Southee and Jacob Oram and Pakistan recalled Mohammad Sami in place of Mohammad Asif and brought in left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman for Fawad Alam.

TeamsNew Zealand: Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Gareth Hopkins (wkt), Daniel Vettori (capt), Ian Butler, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond

Pakistan: Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (capt), Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Saeed Ajmal

The umpires for the match are West Indian Billy Doctrove and England’s Ian Gould. Rudi Koertzen of South Africa is the third umpire and Sri Lanka’s Ranjan Madugalle is the match referee. (ANI)