New Zealand beat Pakistan in the rain-interrupted 3rd ODI at Auckland and won the 3-match ODI series 2-0.
After winning the toss, Pakistan decided to bat first. Pakistan made three changes as Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan and Rahat Ali replaced Sohaib Maqsood, Imad Wasim and Anwar Ali. On the other hand, New Zealand made two changes as Brendon McCullum made a cameback in the squad with his leading role and replaced Tom Latham. The other change for Kiwis was Adam Milne for Mitchell McClenaghan.
New Zealand picked up two early wickets before a huge partnership between Mohammad Hafeez and Babar Azam for the third wicket. They put 134 run partnership. Hafeez made 76 runs while Babar hit 83 runs in that innings. Once it was looking like that Pakistan would easily reach 300 but then wickets fell at regular intervals. Even they didn’t bat for full 50 overs as they were all-out for 290 runs in 47.3 overs. Adam Milne picked up 3 wickets while Pakistan lost last 7 wickets for 75 runs.
In reply, Brendon McCullum got out in very first ball of Mohammad Amir in the 2nd over of the innings. But then, Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson scored 159 run partnership for the 2nd wicket. Guptill made 82 runs while Williamson scored 84 runs. But after that mammoth partnership, New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals. At 210/5 after 35.3 overs, the rain interrupted the match.
After the rain stopped, the match resumed with the revised target of 263 runs in 43 overs. New Zealand reached that target with 2 balls to spare while 3 wickets were still in hand. Mohammad Amir and Azhar Ali took 3 wickets each for Pakistan.
Martin Guptill received the man of the match award. With this victory, New Zealand win the 3-match ODI series 2-0. They won the first match at Wellington by 70 runs while the second match was totally washed out in the rain at Napier. New Zealand also won the T20I series by 2-1 before the ODI series.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan – 290/10 in 47.3 overs (Babar Azam 83, Mohammad Hafeez 76, Adam Milne 3/49)
New Zealand (Revised target 263 in 43 overs) – 265/7 in 42.4 overs (Kane Williamson 84, Martin Guptill 82, Azhar Ali 2/37)