05/12/2014
Afridi: "I am enjoying playing with
the youngsters. We took a positive
decision that we will bat second
because of the dew factor. I had
confidence in our batsmen that they
would chase this down. The bowlers
did an excellent job and then
Sarfraz played an excellent innings.
Ahmed Shehzad was not feeling well,
that's why we rested him and
hopefully will give him a chance in
the next game. The morale in the
dressing room is great at the
moment and hopefully, we will do
well in the coming games."
Sarfraz: "Firstly, I would like to
credit the team management and
Afridi. They told me to be ready to
open the innings. It is easy to open
the batting in T20 cricket, you have
an idea as to how the wicket plays. I
take time and assess the wicket
before playing my shots. If you hit a
four in T20 then you should be
ready to defend the next ball. I
would like to thank Moin Khan. I do
fear playing the sweep shot against
the fast bowlers, but if I get one
right, I grow in confidence. If we get
the singles, then it will be easy to
get the boundaries as well."
Sarfraz Ahmed is the Man of the
Match
Williamson: "We want to improve on
our performance today. We lost early
wickets and we didn't bowl well, but
it's a good experience. There's so
much of cricket coming up, hopefully
we can keep improving. There was a
bit of dew, but they outplayed us in
all three departments and they
deserve a lot of credit."
Sarfraz batted exceptionally well to
keep the scoreboard ticking and
eventually, alongside Umar Akmal,
got Pakistan past the line with a
handy 43-run stand. Adam Milne
bowled at a great pace but he
didn't get enough support from his
team-mates to stop Pakistan.
With this win, Pakistan become the
first team to win 50 T20Is . They
take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the
2-match series as well. All credit
must go to Sarfraz Ahmed. He stayed
positive throughout the innings and
ensured that he held one end up.
The hosts got off to a positive start,
before Zia threw his wicket away.
When Hafeez was run-out almost
immediately, it looked like New
Zealand were going to return
strongly, but Pakistan stole 17 runs
in the very next over to swing the
pendulum in their favour.
