KARACHI: Pakistan are back in familiar territory \u2014 it\u2019s win or bust now after New Zealand were party-poopers once again for Mohammad Rizwan\u2019s side on Wednesday. It was an appalling performance, the celebratory mood surrounding the Champions Trophy\u2019s homecoming \u2014 the first ICC tournament on Pakistani soil in 29 years \u2014 having dissipated quickly.<\/p>\n
New Zealand beat Pakistan on both occasions they met in the recent tri-nation series, including in the final. They were at it yet again. Pakistan failed to turn up yet again, outplayed by a side that was more clinical, more calculated.<\/p>\n
The weaknesses, which Rizwan had spoken about a day ago, didn\u2019t seem to have been addressed. The Pakistan skipper sat in the dressing room, stunned. This wasn\u2019t how it was supposed to be. There seemed genuine hope, at least in the crowd that had packed the ground to capacity, by the time Pakistan began their chase.<\/p>\n
Amid the trumpeting vuvuzelas and loud cheers at the National Bank Stadium, Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel went out to bat; the hosts hampered by the time penalty on regular opener Fakhar Zaman, who had been forced to come out later after having left the field early in the New Zealand innings due to injury.<\/p>\n
Tom Latham and Will Young had hit centuries as Pakistan\u2019s bowling at the death once again came under heavy fire; New Zealand making 320-5 after being sent in. Rizwan\u2019s men needed to respond. The skipper was soon at the pitch after Saud\u2019s early departure.<\/p>\n
But it was suffocating for Pakistan; shots unable to get past the infield, boundaries a rarity. As New Zealand\u2019s constriction continued to tighten, the pressure got the better of Rizwan \u2014 a stunning one-handed catch by Glenn Phillips, who\u2019d earlier made a whirlwind half-century, seeing his downfall.<\/p>\n
The end seemed nigh for Pakistan. Fakhar, looking bothered by his back, flickered briefly before being cleaned up. Salman Ali Agha gave some impetus but after he fell, Tayyab Tahir couldn\u2019t last long. Babar\u2019s demise after making 64, was the final nail in the coffin for Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI: Pakistan are back in familiar territory \u2014 it\u2019s win or bust now after New Zealand were party-poopers once again for Mohammad Rizwan\u2019s side on Wednesday. It was an appalling performance, the celebratory mood surrounding the Champions Trophy\u2019s homecoming \u2014 the first ICC tournament on Pakistani soil in 29 years \u2014 having dissipated quickly. New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5797,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5795\/revisions\/5797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}