New Zealand gave Pakistan a huge target of 345, Mark Chapman and Muhammad Abbas’s blast|

In the first ODI played in Napier, New Zealand set a tough target of 345 runs in front of Pakistan. The biggest contribution in this was Mark Chapman’s career-best 132 runs and debutant Muhammad Abbas’s quick 52 runs in just 26 balls.

Pakistan made a great start in bowling, in which Naseem Shah got the edge of Will Young and Adif Javed got Henry Nicholls out on a bouncer after clean bowling Nick Kell. New Zealand looked in trouble after reaching 50/3 but from there Chapman and Daryl Mitchell added a big partnership of 198 runs. Mitchell gave a good support to Chapman by scoring 76 runs in 84 balls.

Chapman completed his fifty in 63 balls but after that he added a century in just 31 balls. Just when Pakistan thought that they could come back in the match, Irfan Khan dismissed both set batsmen one after the other. But then Muhammad Abbas created havoc in the final overs. Left hander Abbas took 3 sixes and 3 fours off just 26 balls to take New Zealand’s score past 340.

The biggest problem for Pakistan was that they did not have any specialist spinner. In the middle overs, Salman Agha and Irfan Khan together gave away 118 runs in 10 overs, which proved to be costly for Pakistan. Also, Pakistan gave away 43 extra runs, which increased their troubles. Now Pakistan will have to aim for a big 345 runs to win.

Brief Scores: New Zeland 344/9 in 50 overs (Mark Chapman 132, Daryl Mitchell 76, Muhammad Abbas 52, Irfan Khan 3-51) vs Pakistan