Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets in a tri-series T20I match between the sides at Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Saturday. Batting first, Kane Williamson-led New Zealand posted 147 for 8 in 20 overs before Babar Azam's 79 not out helped Pakistan reach home with 10 balls to spare. While Babar shone in the second innings of the game for Pakistan, it was the side's ace pacer Haris Rauf, who hogged the limelight in the first innings with figures of 3 or 28 in 4 overs.
All the three wickets of Rauf came in his last over, which was the 19th over of the New Zealand innings.
New Zealand, who were 137 for 4 at the start of the 19th over, were looking to accelerate in the slog overs but Rauf's three wickets put a dent on their scoring rate as they could eventually score only 10 runs off the remaining 12 balls.
Rauf first cleaned up James Neesham with the second ball of his over before getting the wicket of new batter Michael Bracewell off the very next delivery. The right-arm pacer missed his hat-trick as Ish Sodhi stole a single off the fourth ball of his over but he picked the wicket of Mark Chapman to end the over on a high.
A total of five runs came off the over that saw Rauf picking three wickets.
Apart from Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr also returned impressive figures of 2 for 20 in his four overs. Mohammad Nawaz also got two wickets but conceded at the rate of 11 runs per over.