On Friday, January 12, New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 46 runs in the opening Twenty20 International at Auckland's Eden Park. The Kiwis gained a vital 1-0 lead in the five-match series with the victory.
In T20Is against Pakistan, New Zealand achieved their highest score of 226 at the expense of eight wickets after being placed to bat first. Devon Conway left for a duck, but Finn Allen took off with 24 runs from Shaheen Shah Afridi's second over, hurling the kitchen sink at everything.
Making his debut for his country, Abbas Afridi gave Pakistan a reprieve by getting rid of Allen, who amassed 35 runs off of 15 balls. On his return, captain Kane Williamson scored nine fours and 57 runs off 42 balls, showing no signs of weakness. However, Glenn Phillips was primarily responsible for the harm.
Abbas had an outstanding debut, finishing with 4-0-34-3 stats. Additionally, Haris Rauf was accurate enough after taking two significant wickets, Chapman and Ish Sodhi.
Ayub, Pakistan's new opening batsman after Babar Azam was replaced, scored 27 runs off of eight balls before being out. With his 25 runs off of 14 balls, Rizwan tied Mohammad Hafeez's record for the most sixes scored by a Pakistani batter in Twenty20 Internationals.
Babar Azam started his innings calmly, making 10 runs off of his first 12 balls. However, he then applied more pressure to reach his half-century off of 33 balls. But in his attempt to raise the stakes, Babar lost out as the necessary rate increased. Before Ben Sears dismissed him, Babar amassed 57 runs off 35 balls with six fours and two sixes.
With his departure, everything was over except for Pakistan's cries, as they were dismissed for 180 runs in just 18 overs. Tim Southee became the first bowler to reach 150 wickets in Twenty20 Internationals with his incredible final figures of 4-0-25-4. Each of Milne and Sears claimed two scalps.
The second T20I is scheduled to take place on Sunday, January 14 at the Seddon Park in Hamilton.