New Delhi: Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi revealed the reason behind the team’s loss in the 2nd T20I against New Zealand on Sunday at Seddon Park in Hamilton. He reckoned that bowling first is always tricky and they needed early wickets to win the game.
Pakistan lost the second T20I by 21 runs. The visitors have lost two back-to-back games in the five-match T20I series. After being asked to bat, New Zealand batters scored a mammoth of 194 runs. It was Finn Allen 74 runs knock which helped the hosts to score a big total.
“To be honest, bowling first is always tricky. You can try to go for swing to get wickets, but we didn’t get any. Had we got early wickets, we could have kept them down to around 170. I think we came back strong with the ball, Haris and Abbas bowled really well, even Usama Mir” said Shaheen Shah Afridi after Pakistan’s loss in 2nd T20I.
Now, the third T20I will be played on January 17 at University Oval in Dunedin, New Zealand. There are chances that Kane Williamson will moss the third T20I because he got retired hurt and left the field while playing in the second T20I.
A statement from New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said Williamson will not return to the field as a precautionary measure, while adding that Tim Southee will captain New Zealand for the rest of the match.
At the time of sustaining the right hamstring tightness, Williamson was batting on 26 off 15 balls, hitting three fours and a six. Ater the tenth over was completed, visuals showed Williamson being attended to by the New Zealand physio, while clutching his right hamstring. He eventually walked off the field, with Daryl Mitchell coming out to bat in his place.
Williamson had recently come out of run from injuries; he ruptured the ACL in his right knee while fielding for his team Gujarat Titans during the opening match of IPL 2023. He recovered just in time post surgical intervention to play the ODI World Cup in India in October-November last year.
