Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman in action while batting during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match between New Zealand and Pakistan at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. Saturday, 04 November 2023. Copyright Photo: Raghavan Venugopal / www.photosport.nz Photo: Copyright © Photosport Ltd 2023 www.photosport.nz
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson tried to focus on the positives after his side's loss to Pakistan in a rain-hit World Cup game left them in a precarious position in the chase for a semi-final spot.
The fourth-placed Black Caps posted a mammoth 401-6 in 50 overs but faced the wrath of Pakistan batsman Fakhar Zaman who hit an 81-ball 126 before play was called off, meaning the Asian side prevailed by 21 runs via the DLS method.
New Zealand, the 2019 runners-up, now need to win their remaining match against Sri Lanka in Bengaluru to reach 10 points, and get a better net run rate than at least one of the other sides who can finish on that mark, to make the knockouts.
They can also end up with eight points, with a better net run rate than any of the other teams on the same points, but Williamson said they would try to finish strongly.
"I think the approach will be similar," he said. "We can't rely on other teams as you get down to some small margins of whether it's run rate or your last match.
"Anything can happen but our focus is still on the cricket we want to keep playing and adjusting to what's in front of us. We've done that in positive ways and also being challenged at certain times which you expect in these sorts of competitions.
"So, we can't control what other people are doing but we can really focus on our next game and preparing well for that."
Williamson was pleased with the efforts of his batsmen, with Rachin Ravindra making his third century of the tournament, but he did not fault the bowlers who faced Fakhar's fury.
"The first half was a great effort -- a lot of really good partnerships. The guys understood the surface was good, perhaps better than it appeared and we were able to get a competitive total -- so we thought," Williamson added.
"The guys in the second half tried hard. It was tough, the weather perhaps didn't help but we can't take anything away from the tasks that Pakistan had to try and achieve and they came out and played beautifully well.
"Obviously Zaman, when he's going, not many grounds are big enough, but certainly this one wasn't. And he just hit it to all parts. So credit to the way Pakistan came out and achieved what they did today."
Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman said the team's planning had gone into overdrive at the first hint of rain, after the batsman smashed a century to help his team seal a 21-run victory over the Black Caps via the DLS method that kept their semi-final hopes alive.
Pakistan overcame the early loss of opening batsman Abdullah Shafique in their chase of 402, as Zaman smashed an unbeaten 81-ball 126 in the company of skipper Babar Azam who hit 66 not out to keep them ahead of the DLS par score after two rain delays.
The 1992 champions were on 200-1 in 25.3 overs when play was called off with the duo pummelling 14 fours and 13 sixes to blow New Zealand away.
"We thought it would rain and planned accordingly," Zaman told reporters. "We sent a message to the management after 15 overs that it was drizzling, tell us how many overs because we knew that before 20 overs the DLS method isn't applicable.
"So we asked them what target we needed to achieve in 20 overs. Of course, planning is important at that stage, playing without planning is very difficult. We had planned yesterday also and even today we played over by over."
Zaman said fifth-placed Pakistan had backed themselves to chase down the daunting target on a good wicket in Bengaluru.
"When Abdullah played the first over, I asked him, and then I played the second over so we decided that the wicket is very good for batting. We have to survive the first four overs," Zaman added.
"Abdullah got out but I knew the wicket was good, so as soon as Babar came out, I told him the wicket isn't swinging. If we maintain a good partnership, it'll be easy for us later.
"We understood very early on... that we can chase 400."
- Reuters
