The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
Thanks for joining us- Karthik Raj, Mohul Bhowmick, Pragadeesh and Arya Sekhar Chakraborty for this exciting yet one-sided first One Day International of the five-match series. The two teams meet again on Saturday at the same venue. Until next time, goodbye and take care!
Babar Azam (Pakistan captain): Glory be to God that we could pull off the 500th win for Pakistan in ODI cricket. Mitchell played extremely well, and we thought that 320 was on the cards. Naseem Shah stuck to our plans and bowled very well. Fakhar and Imam gave us an excellent start and provided us with a lot of momentum. We are very happy with our performance today. Each individual did well in the roles assigned to them.
Tom Latham (New Zealand captain): Probably the score we got was around par. Daryl played a fantastic innings and we saw that the track got tougher and tougher to bat on. Pakistan managed to break the back of the chase and unfortunately we didn't manage to get early inroads. Pakistan had two great partnerships at the top, Fakhar and Babar as well.
Fakhar Zaman, Player of the Match: I was just trying to play a big knock. It is a very good start. If you get through the early overs here, have to make sure to play long. It was my day today and hopefully Imam and Babar will also produce such knocks in the remaining games
Time for the Post-match Presentation!
Pakistan beat New Zealand by 5 wickets!
Fakhar Zaman 117 (114) | Naseem Shah 2/29 Daryl Mitchell 113 (115) | Adam Milne 2/60
Despite stuttering towards the end, Pakistan managed to script a rather comfortable victory over New Zealand in the first match of the five-game One Day International series. They batted extremely well and complemented their bowlers, who had worked very hard earlier in the day to restrict New Zealand to 288 when they looked like getting to 320 at one stage.
Openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq were the stars for Pakistan with the bat in hand, as well as skipper Babar Azam. While Imam scored an exciting 60, it was his fellow opener Zaman who batted almost till the end and stroked an eventful century.
He took the attack to the Kiwi bowlers and punished them severely for all the mistakes that they made. He played a lot of innovative shots, and made sure that Pakistan did not have to struggle for runs as long as he was at the crease. After Imam's departure, skipper Babar Azam took up the mantle and played beautifully to get to 49.
Mohammad Rizwan too played extremely well to eventually take his team over the line with Mohammad Nawaz at the other end. Pakistan will be extremely pleased with the way they performed today, while the Kiwis have a lot to address in their batting department. They should have got more runs than they did on this belter of a surface.
And that will be that!
48.3 Rachin Ravindra to Mohammad Rizwan, THAT'S THAT! Full outside-off, Rizwan gets down on his knee and sweeps it over mid-wicket for a boundary. So, Pakistan clinch the first ODI by five wickets!
48.2 Rachin Ravindra to Mohammad Rizwan, full on the stumps, Rizwan gets forward and blocks it dead
48.1 Rachin Ravindra to Mohammad Nawaz, turning in from a length, Nawaz punches it to long-on for a single
Rachin Ravindra [7-0-48-1] is back into the attack.
Three runs to get off two overs now. Pakistan are almost there. New Zealand should bring Adam Milne back into the attack.
48
overs
286/5score
0
0
1
4
2
1
runs
Mohammad Nawaz*
7(9)
Mohammad Rizwan
38(32)
Blair Tickner
1/52
47.6 Blair Tickner to Mohammad Nawaz, length delivery on the stumps, Nawaz clips it in front of square for a single
Just four required now!
47.5 Blair Tickner to Mohammad Nawaz, full delivery, Nawaz makes room and lifts it over mid-off for a couple of runs
Nawaz takes things into his own hands!
47.4 Blair Tickner to Mohammad Nawaz, FOUR! Short of a length delivery, Nawaz backs away and slaps it just over mid-off. Milne gives chases and puts in a dive but he pushes it back to his other arm as the ball reaches the fence!
47.3 Blair Tickner to Mohammad Rizwan, length delivery, Rizwan drives it to mid-on. Single taken
47.2 Blair Tickner to Mohammad Rizwan, short of a length outside-off, Rizwan pulls it to short mid-wicket. No run
47.1 Blair Tickner to Mohammad Rizwan, full and slow on off, Rizwan defends it to backward point. No run
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Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium
Mohammad Nawaz
*
Blair Tickner
Video
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