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In Dunedin, where his second Twenty20 International
century demoralised Pakistan and helped New Zealand amass 224 for a comfortable
45-run victory in the third Twenty20 International, Finn Allen’s barrage of
sixes broke records. New Zealand was put in to bat for the third time in a row,
and Pakistan again failed to reduce the total by depending solely on Babar
Azam, resulting in a loss of the series with two games remaining.
While New Zealand had been hitting hard with the bat
throughout the series, Allen elevated the game on Wednesday, hitting 16 of
their 18 sixes and surpassing Brendon McCullum’s 123 to claim the highest
individual T20I score for the home team.
Pakistan’s overly short bowling, even with the new
ball, and the opening batsman’s aggressive pulls and ground-ball swings
contributed to Allen’s advantage.
Only Mohammad Rizwan, who scored 24, offered Babar
some temporary respite in response, but when he was out of the game in the
eighth over, no other Pakistani hitter was able to stay out of the field for
more than ten balls. Pakistan failed once more as Babar failed to score more
when trying to do so, falling for 58 as the asking rate shot skyrocketed.
After dismissing Devon Conway in the next over, which
saw just two runs, Haris Rauf would have assumed he would have a nice day.
However, his second over, the final one of the powerplay, was smashed for 28
runs, 27 of which came off Allen’s bat. Allen hit them for two fours and three
sixes in the over, helping New Zealand reach 67 in the powerplay regardless of
how long Rauf threw the ball.
After entering the playing XI, Mohammad Nawaz and
Mohammad Wasim cooperated for two overs without a boundary. However, Allen, who
had already reached 50, then hit two sixes off Nawaz in the ninth over. When
Rauf came back, Allen took off once more.
After hitting Rauf for three sixes in an over that
ended for 23, he raced from 72 to 91 in only five deliveries. He also reached
100 with a six and four over covers off Afridi. There were still seven overs in
the innings after all of this. When Allen chopped on, Zaman’s perfect length
ball, which lacked velocity, eventually put an end to the chaos.
Babar had a tough asking rate to meet and was left to
handle the majority of the scoring without much assistance from the other end.
After he and Babar put up 39 off 28 for the second wicket, Rizwan’s two meaty
sixes would have given Pakistan hope, but Santner had him stumped.
Babar produced amazing shots, similar to his 57 and 66
in the opening two games, when 130 runs off 55 balls were required. These
included some wristy flicks and lofted shots off Sodhi, but his stunning pull
off Matt Henry was likely his best shot of the day. At the end of the 13th
over, Azam Khan holed out to a sharp catch from Phillips at deep midwicket, and
seven balls later, Iftikhar Ahmed failed to score a quick run with a careless
attempt after driving the ball to cover from where Santner hit a straight hit.
This was his third consecutive fifty, but it was not enough either.
Babar unleashed two more fours off Sodhi before
falling in the same over, the 16th, and Pakistan’s task of scoring another 91
runs off 25 balls was not going to happen despite some boundaries from Nawaz
and Afridi.