Centuries from Tom Latham and Will Young propelled New Zealand to 60-run victory over defending champion Pakistan in the opening game of the Champions Trophy on Wednesday.
Latham smashed unbeaten 118 off 104 balls and Young hit 107 in New Zealand’s total of 5-320 after Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and elected to field.
Glenn Phillips muscled 61 off 39 balls with his power hitting in the death overs against the pace of Shaheen Shah Afridi (0-68) and Haris Rauf (2-83) that saw New Zealand rack up 113 runs in the last 10 overs.
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Phillips also stunned commentators when he took a screaming catch at point to dismiss Muhammad Rizwan.
Pakistan struggled to get early momentum due to an injury to opening batter Fakhar Zaman before it got bowled out for 260 in 47.2 overs. Captain Mitchell Santner (3-66) and fast bowler Will O’Rourke (3-47) shared six wickets while Matt Henry clipped Pakistan in the powerplay and finished with 2-25.
Babar Azam’s struggle in his new role as an ODI opener continued as he made a scratchy 64 off 90 balls. It was only due to late countercharge by No.7 Khushdil Shah (69 off 49 balls) that pushed Pakistan beyond 250-run mark in an otherwise disappointing batting by the top-order.
“The way Young and Latham rotated the strike and got the odd boundary, it really set us up,” Santner said.
“We were thinking 260-280, but it shows what you can do if you have a platform and wickets in hand.”
Pakistan, which co-hosted the World Cup with India and Sri Lanka in 1996, is the defending champion after it beat India in the final the last time the Champions Trophy was played — in England in 2017.
New Zealand is on a high in Karachi after winning the tri-nation series in Pakistan last week.
Zaman walked off the field due to a muscular sprain in his left ribcage in the first over of the game as he ran after the ball in the outfield and fell awkwardly.
He returned late in New Zealand’s innings but, according to the rules, he wasn’t allowed to open the innings until 20 minutes into Pakistan innings.
Fast bowlers Henry and O’Rourke pinned down Pakistan to 2-22 in the first 10 overs with makeshift opener Saud Shakeel (6) and Mohammad Rizwan (3) both struggling to negotiate the pace.
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“Losing Fakhar Zaman (as opener) was crucial,” Rizwan said. “We lost momentum twice, first in the death overs and then in the powerplay with the bat.”
Shakeel sliced O’Rourke to third man and an airborne Phillips took a stunning left-handed catch at point to dismiss Rizwan as New Zealand shut down home team’s chase early.
Left-handed Zaman was visibly in discomfort and struggled to score 24 off 41 balls before he was clean bowled by Michael Bracewell (1-38) a ball after he got dropped by diving Devon Conway at mid-wicket.
Babar’s struggling knock finally ended in the 34th over when he top-edged a sweep against Santner as Pakistan continued to lose wickets with regular intervals before eventually getting bowled out with 16 balls to spare.
Latham and Young rebuilt brilliantly with their 118-run stand after New Zealand ran into early trouble and lost the big wickets of Conway (10), in-form Kane Williamson (1) and Daryl Mitchell (10).
Williamson, who had scored a century and a half-century in New Zealand’s tri-nation series win in Pakistan last week, lasted for only two balls before he edged Naseem Shah (2-63) behind the wicket for his rare single digit score in ODIs.
But Latham and Young then batted solidly in the middle overs as Young raised his fourth ODI century and first outside New Zealand with a sweep against leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.
Young, who smashed 12 fours and a flicked six off Naseem to mid-wicket in his 113-ball knock departed in the 38th over when he holed out in the deep, but set up an ideal platform for Phillips’ blitz.
“The pitch was not easy to bat early on, but Will Young and Latham’s innings were crucial,” Rizwan said. “We tried, but they played very smartly … our execution in the end overs was not good, and that’s why they made that score.”