CWC 2019 Recap: Calm, collected Babar Azam takes Pakistan home with an unbeaten ton

A Cricket World series, CWC 2019 Recap looks at all the high-octane encounters from the last year's ODI World Cup: from Jofra Archer's bouncers to Rohit Sharma's hundreds and from Mitchell Starc's yorkers to Virat Kohli's antics.

Match Summary

Pakistan 241-4 (49.1 overs) – (Babar Azam 101*, Haris Sohail 68)

New Zealand 237-6 (De Grandhomme 64, James Neesham 97*; Shaheen Afridi 3-28)

Result – Pakistan won by 6 wickets

Scorecard

Pakistan faced New Zealand in a must-win game in the 33rd match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Given Pakistan's poor record while chasing, not many expected them to pull off the victory in the calm manner that they did.

With New Zealand struggling at 46-4 in the 13th over, the Pakistani pacers - led by Shaheen Afridi -  were on top. But, they did not kill the match there and then and allowed Kane Williamson and James Neesham and later de Grandhomme to build a slow but steady partnership, which took the Black Caps to a respectable 241.

In reply, Pakistan openers threw it away and exposed the middle order inside 15 overs. On a pitch that was tough to tackle, Babar Azam walked in and displayed nerves of steel to grind it out and stay till the end of run chase. There were plenty of close calls during the chase, but Babar's focus never drifted away and he along with the in-form Haris Sohail engineered a 100-plus partnership to seal the game quite comfortably in the end.

This was Pakistan's 7th win against New Zealand in World Cups. Apart from Australia, no other side has beaten them more than thrice.

New Zealand v Pakistan -  ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Birmingham, 26th June 10:30AM, live cricket streaming action and social media match updates #CWC19