Having defeated Pakistan in the first T20 by five wickets, New Zealand’s stand-in skipper Mitchell Santner said that we are working hard in this format as we need to excel in the upcoming T20 World Cup which is scheduled in India next year. He appreciated his team’s effort in the first match against Pakistan and added that we will carry this energy forward in the next game which will be played on December 20th, 2020. He also hinted that the return of regular skipper Kane Williamson in the second T20I will strengthen their squad to a great extent.
“The energy in the field was outstanding. Probably a change in the team going into the next game, but we will take this confidence,” Santner after the match.
“We are looking at the World Cup in India next year. And we will have around four changes in our next game with the Test stars coming back in” he added.
Taking about the match Pakistan batted first and gave away the target of 154 runs to Kiwi’s batsman to chase where Guptil and Seifert opened the scoring for New Zealand and speedster Afridi gave early breakthrough for Men in Green by clinching the wicket of Martin Guptil who scored 6 runs. However, the important partnership came between Seifert and Philips in the middle where they stitched 44 runs of 34 balls for the third wicket. As they were looking set for a big partnership but Rauf removed Philips for 23 runs. It was followed by a quick partnership between Mark Chapman and Seifert for 45 runs which paved the way for Kiwis on the driving seat and almost confirmed their victory. Afridi picked up the wicket of Seifert in the 15th over and Kiwi’s still needed 44 runs to cross the line.
However, at the end unbeaten 27 runs partnership between Santner and Neesham where they both scored 15 and 12 runs respectively ensured that New Zealand cross the line with 7 balls remaining in their 20 over’s quota.
