Twitter Reactions: Shaheen Afridi's scintillating bowling spell helps Pakistan take a 2-0 lead

There is something about the middling totals and Pakistan's wins.

By Suryesh M

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5 Min Read

Pakistan players
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Pakistan players. (Photo Source: Twitter)

With some high anticipation, the second T20I between Pakistan and New Zealand kicked off in Dubai. Pakistan is on a winning spree of late in the shortest format of the game. The onus was on the Blackcaps to upset the rhythm and level the series. However, the ICC No 1 side was just too good for the visitors. First, Shaheen Afridi with the ball and then Mohammad Hafeez with the bat took the game out of reach for New Zealand. The Men in Green now lead the series 2-0 after a six-wicket win in the 2nd T20I.

Good start, middle muddle, transcendent end

The above line perfectly sums up the Kiwi innings. It started off on a good note for the visitors where they put up 47 runs in the first five overs of the innings after opting to bat first. Colin Munro looked good yet again as he raced to a 28-ball 44. However, the next nine overs were a complete struggle. They only managed to get 43 runs with the batsmen taking too long to settle in.

Ross Taylor was involved in an unfortunate run out only to make things worse. The skipper Kane Williamson got out after scoring 37 off 34 balls and failed to up the ante. However, a good fightback from Corey Anderson, with an unbeaten 44 off 25 balls helped the Kiwis finish well as they got 63 runs in the last six overs. Shaheen Afridi deserves a special mention for all that he did with the ball. He constantly clocked up the 140s, also breached the 150-mark, bowled yorkers at will and picked three wickets during his wily spell. He conceded 20 runs of which 11 were scored in his last over.

Hafeez delivers under pressure

Pakistan got off to a good start with Fakhar Zaman yielding some fireworks at the top. But an absolute blinder from Kane Williamson put curtains to his innings after he scored 24 off 15 balls. However, the Pakistani batsmen struggled after his dismissal. Babar Azam, after crawling up to 40 off 41 deliveries got out at an unwanted time and the pressure kept building up.

Asif Ali too took his time initially and got out when his team required him the most while he tried to get the big shots going. However, despite all the pressure that was building up, Mohammad Hafeez put his head down, plucked out the big shots. He scored 34 runs off 21 balls as Pakistan won the match by 6 wickets.

Shaheen Afridi, with an ingenious spell of bowling, gave the Pakistani fans a lot to talk about. Twitterati was all praise for him and Hafeez. The fans filled it all up with how Pakistan has dominated the T20 game over the last few months. There was also some buzz about the blinder that Kane Williamson pulled off.

Here is how Twitterati reacted:

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