Harare: Pakistan beat New Zealand by eight wickets in the opening match of the ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup Super Six at the Harare Sports Club on Tuesday.
The green shirt team chased down the target of 111 runs set by New Zealand losing only 2 wickets in 17.1 overs.
Openers Hamza Zahoor and Sameer Minhas set the tone early on, both hitting boundaries and putting pressure on New Zealand’s bowling attack with a solid partnership.
The partnership was broken when Hamza was dismissed by Mason Clarke for 8 runs off 11 balls, including 2 fours, at 18-1 in 2.5 overs.
Minhas was in fine form with the bat, scoring freely and helping his team cross the 50-run mark in the eighth over.
Usman Khan and Sameer batted sensibly, with the opener scoring the most runs in their partnership, while Minhas Youth raised the bat for his fourth fifty in ODIs.
However, the 67-run partnership was broken when Luke Harrison took the prized wicket of Usman, who scored 15 runs off 24 balls, including a boundary, and the team were 85-2 in 14.1 overs.
Skipper Farhan Yousuf then came to the crease and added valuable runs, but Minhas scored an unbeaten 76 off 59 balls with 10 fours and 2 sixes, while Farhan scored 11 off 9 balls.
New Zealand opener Marco William Albay, who batted first, was dismissed for 2 runs off 7 balls in the third over bowled by fast bowler Ali Raza.
Hugo Bogue and captain Tom Jones combined to stabilize the innings, aiming to put Pakistan on the back foot.
However, their 48-run stand was broken by the dismissal of Mohamed Saiyam Bogg, who smashed 39 runs off 27 balls, including 6 fours and 2 sixes, to leave New Zealand at 59-2 in 7.5 overs.
In the next over, Jones was dismissed by Abdul Subhan when he scored 15 runs off 16 balls with 2 fours and a six.
The Blackcaps’ struggles continued as they lost two more wickets—Snehit Reddy and Jacob Khatter—for six and two runs, respectively, to Ali Raza and Abdul Subhan.
He picked up his third wicket by dismissing Jaskaran Sandhu in the second ball to leave the team at 67-6 in 12.3 overs.
New Zealand were soon seven wickets down as Brandon Matsopoulos fell for a duck, courtesy of Ali Raza, who claimed his third wicket.
With the Blackcaps losing wickets at regular intervals, spinner Momin Qamar came into the attack, taking Callum Samson for 10 runs off 22 balls, including a boundary, to claim his maiden wicket.
Mason Clarke and Hunter Shore batted together and steadily added crucial runs to take their team past 100 in the 25th over.
Subhan returned to the attack and smashed a solid partnership by dismissing Mason Clarke for 17 runs off 48 balls, including a boundary, while Hunter Shore was run out after 13 runs.
Abdul Subhan was the standout bowler taking 4/11 in 6.3 overs. Ali Raza took 3 wickets and Mohammad Syam and Momin Qamar took one each.