NZ vs PAK, 2020: 1st T20I – End of New Zealand’s losing streak, Duffy's dream debut, Pakistan's youngest skipper and more stats

New Zealand carried their unbeaten streak from the series against West Indies as they got the better of Pakistan in the first game of the 3-match T20I series. Pakistan, who batted first, succumbed to 20/4 with the debutant Jacob Duffy picked up three wickets in his first two overs. However, their new skipper Shadab Khan (42 off 32) and Faheem Ashraf (31 off 18) helped Pakistan finish with 153/9 in their 20 overs. Opening batsman Tim Seifert anchored the chase with a 43-ball 57 as the Kiwis won the game with seven balls to spare.

Here are all the statistical highlights from New Zealand’s 5-wicket win during the Auckland T20I:

New Zealand ends their losing streak:

5 – New Zealand put an end to their 5-match losing streak in the T20I format against Pakistan. New Zealand won the first game of the 3-match T20I series against Pakistan at home in 2018 before losing their next two games and also lost all three matches of the T20I series in UAE later that year.

A dream debut for Duffy:

1 – Jacob Duffy became the first player to claim a 4-wicket haul on T20I debut for New Zealand as he took 4/33 in his four overs. The previous best T20I debut figures for New Zealand were 3/20 by Nathan Astle and Jeetan Patel; both during the 2005 Johannesburg T20I against South Africa.

4/33 – Duffy’s 4/33 is also the joint 2nd most conceded 4-wicket haul for any player on T20I debut. Ireland’s Mark Adair gave away 40 runs in his four overs to pick four wickets during the last year’s T20I against Zimbabwe at home while another Irish bowler Barry McCarthy also had figures of 4/33 in his four overs during the 2017 Noida T20I against Afghanistan.

Bottom half rescues Pakistan:

114 – Pakistan scored as many as 114 runs after losing their 5th wicket of the innings; the 2nd most number of runs they made in a T20I for the last five wickets. Pakistan aggregated 134 runs during a successful chase against Sri Lanka during the 2015 Colombo T20I.

Pakistan’s youngest T20I skipper:

22y 75d – Shadab Khan, at the age of 22 years and 75 days, became the youngest player to captain Pakistan in a Men’s T20I. Babar Azam (25y 19d) was the previous youngest when he led the Pakistan team against Australia last year. In fact, Shadab is the 2nd youngest captain in Men’s International cricket for Pakistan only behind Waqar Younis (21y 354d during an ODI vs WI in 1993).

Santner finishes off in style:

4 – Mitchell Santner is now only the 4th captain to have bowled the first over of a T20I match and finish the same by hitting a six. Mashrafe Mortaza (BAN vs ZIM, 2015), Angelo Mathews (SL vs SA, 2017) and Najjam Shahzad (POR vs GIB, 2019) are the other three T20I skippers to achieve this unique feat.

Shaheen @ 50 wickets:

50 – Shaheen Shah Afridi completed 50 wickets in the Twenty20 format in 2020 with his two wickets during Friday’s T20I game. Shaheen is now the 7th player from Pakistan to claim 50+ wickets in Twenty20 cricket. Haris Rauf was previous to join the list having picked 55 T20 wickets in 2020 thus far.

A poor start for Pakistan:

4.1 – Pakistan lost four wickets in only 4.1 overs; the 2nd fewest number of overs they batted before losing their 4th wicket in a T20I inning. Pakistan were 16/4 by 3.4 overs only during the 2012 Dubai T20I against Australia. This was overall the 7th instance of Pakistan losing as many as four wickets inside first six overs of a T20I inning.

4.1 – The 4.1 overs are 2nd fewest New Zealand needed to claim first four wickets of the opposition in a T20I game. They had Kenya four wickets down in the 2007 WT20 match at the Durban’s Kingsmead in only 1.5 overs.