The Black Caps have been beaten by seven wickets in the first Twenty20 cricket match against Pakistan in Dubai, the hosts cruising to victory with five balls to spare.
Corey Anderson batting for the Black Caps. 2014. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Pakistan now lead the two-match series 1-0 heading into Saturday morning's second and final T20 at the same venue.
New Zealand lost the toss and were put in to bat and lost several early wickets, including opener and captain Kane Williamson for a golden duck, to fall to 15 for three.
However they were lifted to 135 for seven from their 20 overs by a career-best 37 ball 48 from all-rounder Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi's 33 and opener Martin Guptill's 32.
Corey Anderson Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Anderson hit four sixes and a boundary off 37 balls and added 51 for the fifth wicket with Ronchi.
Pakistan cruised to the target in 19 overs and a ball, with opener Sarfraz Ahmed smashing a career-best 76 not out for his maiden half-century in T20 cricket.
Ahmed added a quick 51 for the first wicket with Awaiz Zia who made 20 with two boundaries and then continued the good work with a dominating 43-run stand for the fourth wicket with Umar Akmal who made a 24-ball 27 not out.
Akmal finished the match with a huge six off Jimmy Neesham.
In between Pakistan lost Mohammad Hafeez (two) and Haris Sohail (11) but Sarfraz kept one end intact and bettered his previous best of just five in his previous four Twenty20s.
"It was a positive and aggressive decision to field first. The bowlers did well and then Sarfraz was outstanding," said Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi of his team's 50th win in 84 Twenty20 matches.
Paceman Mitchell McClenaghan was the only Black Caps bowler to take a wicket, with the other two Pakistan dismissals caused by run-outs.
New Zealand's stand-in skipper Kane Williamson blamed the loss of early wickets for a below-par total by the Black Caps batsmen.
Williamson says there were things that went wrong... "We lost early wickets and then couldn't pick up wickets with the ball. But it's great to have a look at all the players with so much cricket to come."
Pakistan's two left-arm pacemen Sohail Tanvir (2-24) and Mohammad Irfan (2-27) shared the bowling honours.
Shahid Afridi, Raza Hasan and Anwar Ali also took a wicket each.
New Zealand were without their regular skipper Brendon McCullum who along with paceman Trent Boult and Tim Southee left for home after the drawn 1-1 Test series.
Both teams also play a five-match one-day series, the first of which will be played in Dubai on Monday night/Tuesday morning starting at midnight Monday (NZ time).
