Pakistan got off to a winning start in the series by defeating New Zealand in the first ODI thanks to Fakhar Zaman’s brilliant century. The national batsmen achieved the target of 289 runs given by New Zealand in the 49th over for the loss of five wickets.
In pursuit of the target, a century partnership was formed between opener Imamul Haq and Fakhar Zaman. Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed for 60 runs on a total of 124. After which, captain Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman pushed the score forward.
Babar Azam was dismissed for 214 runs after scoring 49 runs. Newcomer Shaun Masood failed to impress and conceded just one run. After his dismissal, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman led the team to victory; on this occasion, Fakhar Zaman also completed his century.
After playing an inning of 117 runs, Fakhar Zaman was caught out by Richan Ravindra. The fifth player to get out was Agha Salman, who played an inning of seven runs.
On the sixth wicket, Mohammad Rizwan and Mohammad Nawaz led the team to victory. Rizwan played an unbeaten inning of 42 runs, while Muhammad Nawaz remained unbeaten, scoring 8 runs. For New Zealand, Adam Mullen stood out with two wickets, while Ash Sodhi, Richan Ravindra, and Blair Tickner got one wicket each.
In this match played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, New Zealand scored 288 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the allotted 50 overs while batting first.
The New Zealand opener gave the team a cautious start, but Pakistan got their first breakthrough on 48 when Haris Rauf dismissed Chad Bose for 18.
Daryl Mitchell, who came in after him, joined Will Young, and the two put on a 102-run partnership for the second wicket.
After scoring 86 runs on a total of 150, Will Young was caught out by Shadab Khan.
Daryl Mitchell added 72 runs, along with captain Tom Latham, for the third wicket. Latham, who scored 20 runs at a score of 222, was dismissed lbw by Shaheen Afridi.
New Zealand’s fourth wicket fell for 248 runs when T20 series hero Mark Chapman scored 15 runs and was bowled by Haris Rauf.
On the one hand, where New Zealand’s wickets were falling, on the other hand, Daryl Mitchell continued his responsible batting and scored a century.
Mitchell was caught for 113 off Shaheen Afridi when the team’s score was 260.
On the last two balls of the last over, Naseem Shah dismissed Richan Ravindra and Adam Mullen, and by the end of the innings, the score of the visiting team was 288 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
On behalf of Pakistan, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, and Shaheen Afridi dismissed two players each, while one wicket went to Shadab Khan. However, Naseem Shah conceded only 29 runs in his quota of 10 overs.