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Pakistan had to face its first defeat of the tournament yesterday in its Group A Match against New Zealand at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy. New Zealand pounded them with a massive 110-run defeat thanks to a blistering century from Ross Taylor.
It was the first time that the Kiwis had won the toss in this tournament and they decided to bat first. The innings was going along in an average fashion for them until the slog overs when birthday boy Ross Taylor punished most of the loose deliveries by the Pakistanis for boundaries and sixes. An incredible 114 runs were scored by the Kiwis in the last six overs with Shoaib Akhtar going for 28 in the 47th over and Abdul Razzaq going for 30 runs in the 49th over. Taylor remained unbeaten on 131 from 124 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes to power New Zealand to 302 for 7. Opener Martin Guptill had worked hard early on to score 57 from 86 balls with 6 fours.
The bowling from Pakistan with the exception of Umar Gul (10-1-32-3) was lousy to say the least. The fielding was also awful from Pakistan and it looked as if the match was fixed with Kamran Akmal dropping two easy catches behind the stumps. One of them was a sitter offered by Ross Taylor when he had hardly got going and Kamran Akmal despite getting a straightforward nick into his gloves ‘managed’ to drop it. Shoaib Akhtar too looked to be doing something fishy, first throwing the ball well away from the keeper in his follow through to leak four overthrow runs and later in the innings bowling easy full tosses to Taylor to get whacked out of the park. Shoaib Akhtar also started the match with some unbelievable no-balls which reminded of the Aamer-Asif no-balls during the last England tour. Razzaq and Afridi too didn’t give their best with the ball, especially the former who like Akhtar bowled friendly full tosses and some free wides to the opposition.
Pakistan with the bat was no different with most of the batmen appearing to be more interested in throwing away their wickets. Having said that the Kiwi new ball pair of Kyle Mills and Tim Southee bowled pretty well under the lights getting the ball to swing and seam both ways. Pakistan had no chance having slipped to 66 for 6 in the 18th over. Abdul Razzaq with 62 (from 74 balls with 9 fours) and Umar Gul with an unbeaten 34 (from 25 balls with 3 fours and a six) ensured that the margin of defeat came down drastically. Pakistan was bowled out in 41.4 overs for 192. Southee picked up 3 for 25 in his 8 overs. New Zealand missed the services of Skipper Daniel Vettori who didn’t bowl a single ball because of hurting his knee while trying to attempt a forward diving catch. Birthday boy Ross Taylor got the Man of the Match for his carnage.