Hong Kong- born Mark Chapman played a scintillating knock and scored one of the most emotional centuries in T20I justice as New Zealand registered an questionable palm against Pakistan in the fifth T20I at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on April 24( Monday). As a result, the Black Caps tied the series at 2- 2 and stopped the Men in Green from winning the jewel on home turf. Chapman surfaced as the doubtful idol for the Kiwis as the left- handed batter smashed 104 not out in 57 balls to stun Pakistan.
Chasing a daunting target of 194 runs, New Zealand sustained a horrendous launch as the top order failed to make any impact with the club. Captain Tom Latham was dismissed by Shaheen Afridi on the first ball of the innings while Chad Bowes (19 runs off 13 balls), Will Young( four runs off as numerous deliveries) and Daryl Mitchell( 15 runs off 18 balls) departed without making any significant donation. Tottering at73/4 after9.5 overs, it looked all doom and dusk for New Zealand. The match fully turned on its head when Chapman and James Neesham joined forces for the fifth gate. The brace combined for an unbeaten 121- run alliance and conscious the Blacks to a thrilling palm. In his 104- run knock, Chapman smashed 11 fours and four sixes. Neesham remained unbeaten on 45 runs off 25 balls which he scored with the help of four fours and two sixes. The Blacks Caps completed the run chase with four balls to spare.
For Pakistan, Shaheen Afridi bagged two lattices but conceded 48 runs while Haris Rauf blurted 39 runs in four overs and went wicketless. Imad Wasim (2/21) was the pick of all Pakistan bowlers. before, New Zealand won the toss and asked Pakistan to club first. Wicketkeeper- batter Mohammad Rizwan scored 98 not out in 62 balls with the help of seven fours and four sixes. Iftikhar Ahmed (36 runs off 22 balls) and Imad Wasim( 31 runs off 15 balls) played handy bijous and pushed the Men in Green’s aggregate to193/5 in 20 overs. For New Zealand, Blair Tickner finished with numbers of3/33 in four overs while Ish Sodhi(1/21) minced in with a gate each.
That is it from ESPN Cricinfo’s content of the fifth T20I. We hope you enjoyed our watch throughout the T20I series. Do not forget to join us again on Thursday when these two sides will be back in action at Rawalpindi for the first ODI. Until also, it’s farewell and goodnight from Momin and the rest of the crew.
Mark Chapman We’re veritably happy with how we levelled the series tonight and finished the job. It took a bit of conforming in the first two games and it’s great to see that it worked out well. I was enough thankful that Jimmy Neesham came out each- ordnance- blazing and took some pressure off me as well.
