The New Zealand cricket team's record winning streak has ended at 13 after a 48-run defeat in the second Twenty20 against Pakistan in Auckland.
Pakistan's Mohammad Amir celebrates during the second T20 match against the Black Caps after claiming the wicket of Colin Munro. Photo: Photosport NZ
Set 202 to win after losing the toss and being handed the ball, the Black Caps were all out for 153 in 18.3 overs at a muggy Eden Park on Thursday night.
The resounding result was the hosts' first loss in 14 matches since the start of their home summer, Pakistan's first win in seven matches on this tour and squared the series at 1-1 heading into the third and deciding match in Mt Maunganui on Sunday.
Having endured a horror tour to this point, Pakistan were elated and rightly so after what was a clinical display of short form cricket.
After failing to fire in the first six games on New Zealand soil, their top order finally produced as Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed all went past 40 in a total of 201-4.
The New Zealand chase hardly got out of second gear, the loss of six wickets for just 39 runs in the opening eight overs reducing them to 64-6 and all but out of the contest.
Fighting cameos from middle-lower order players Mitchell Santner (37 off 28) and Ben Wheeler (30 off 20) kept a brief glimmer of hope alive, but with the run-rate climbing and wickets in hand not a luxury, Pakistan eventually sealed a comfortable win.
Zaman and Shehzad had scored freely, the opening pair taking a particularly liking to the offerings of right-arm seamer Seth Rance.
They put on 94 from 60 balls before Rance got some respite when he got the breakthrough, Shehzad picking out long on to depart for an entertaining 44 from 30 balls.
Zaman followed just three balls later for a brutal 50 off only 28 deliveries, the stylish left-hander hitting five fours and three sixes before top-edging medium pacer Colin de Grandhomme for Ish Sodhi to take a tidy catch at a wide fine-leg.
That allowed the hosts to apply the brakes briefly, but Azam and Ahmed quickly found the pace of a typically batter-friendly surface.
Bettering the first-wicket pair, the third-wicket duo combined to thump 91 from just 48 balls and put their side back on top.
It wasn't until the 19th and penultimate over that there was something to cheer about again for Black Caps fans, the lively left-arm of Wheeler getting rid of Ahmed and Faheem Ashraf within three balls.
The bulk of the damage, though, had been done.
Ahmed had clubbed three sixes and two fours in his 41 off 24, while Azam finished unbeaten on 50 from 29 as a Hasan Ali boundary from the final ball gave the previously embattled tourists the psychological boost of going past 200.
Rance would not have glanced too long at his figures of 1-47 from four and left-arm off-spinner Mitchell Santner also copped the brunt of the Pakistan onslaught, bowling just two overs for 30.
Wheeler finished well to return 2-36 from four, while Boult (0-37 from four), Sodhi (0-32 from four) and de Grandhomme (1-18 from two) all had figures that reflected what had been challenging night for the Black Caps bowlers.
Thanks to Martin Guptill, New Zealand started well enough with a few lusty blows but the loss of opening partner Colin Munro with 25 on the board, trapped in front by a fired-up Mohammad Amir, triggered a swift collapse.
Captain Kane Williamson spooned Rumman Raes to mid-wicket for a rare golden duck, before a superb direct hit from Haris Sohail left Tom Bruce short of his ground when attempting a quick single.
Guptill's demise for 26 off 27, leg-spinner Shadab Khan inducing a top-edge from a cut shot to short third-man, plunged the home team further into the mire.
And when Glenn Phillips and de Grandhomme followed not long after, Pakistan could sniff a drought-breaking victory.
Wheeler and Santner ensured there were a few late highlights for the home crowd, the former hitting two fours and two sweet sixes and the latter hitting four fours as they shared a 54-run seventh-wicket partnership.
But it was too little, too late, the visitors full of relief and excitement as the final nail went in the New Zealand coffin with nine balls remaining.
