Pakistan captain Babar Azam said he performed well with the bat against New Zealand in the third T20I of the five-match series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The host team had to face defeat by 7 wickets against New Zealand on Sunday. Babar played an inning of 37 runs in 29 balls against the Kiwi team in the first innings of the match. He hit 4 fours and 1 six during his time at the crease. Speaking at the post-match presentation, Babar admitted that Mohammad Rizwan’s injury in the first innings was a blow for him.

Rizwan scored 22 runs on 21 balls until he retired hurt after injury.

He said that the partnership of Shadab Khan and Irfan Khan helped the ‘Men in Green’ recover well in the game.

“We performed well with the bat. I don’t think so [the slowdown] It made a big difference because in the end we caught up. You can say that we fell short by ten runs. Unfortunately, we got a bit of a shock [Mohammad] Rizwan’s injury was not easy for the new batsmen. But Shadab made a good recovery and made a great partnership with Irfan. [Khan], At Pindi, 180-190 is a par score,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Babar as saying.

Recalling the match, after winning the toss the Kiwis decided to bowl first against the host team and their decision in the game went in their favor. Sam Ayub (32) and captain Babar Azam (37) opened for the Men in Green with a 55-run partnership.

Shadab Khan (41) was the only standout batsman for the hosts, hitting 4 fours and 2 overhead boundaries during his time at the crease. Apart from Shadab, Irfan Khan (30) also tried his best and took Pakistan to the score of 178/4.

Ish Sodhi led the Kiwi bowling attack and took two wickets for just 25 runs in his four-over spell. Bracewell and Jacob Duffy also took one wicket each in their respective spells.

During the run chase, Dean Foxcroft (31) and Mark Chapman (87) made a 117-run partnership to help New Zealand to a 7-wicket win in Rawalpindi. Pakistan displayed poor bowling performance in the match and Afridi and Shah were the only bowlers to take wickets in the match.

Currently, the five-match series is tied at 1-1 as both Pakistan and New Zealand managed to win only one game.

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