Afridi, Akmal rescue Pak into 138-run win
Posters of "Boom Boom Afridi" held up by Pakistani cricket fans at Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Zayed Stadium in the team's first ODI against New Zealand for the Cool & Cool Cup, were waved even more excitedly when their hero walked out on the ground, at a stage when the Pakistani side were limping around at 70/4. Delivering on his fans' expectations, Shahid Afridi changed the course of their game at that point, knocking a crafty 71 runs off 50 balls, setting the scene for Kamran Akmal to come in and do further damage with his 43-ball 67 (four sixes, five boundaries), and Khalid Latif steadying the ship with his maiden half-century. The result was Pakistan lurching into a whopping 287/9, which New Zealand had trouble with from the get-go.
The Kiwis struggled at 50/4, and unfortunately did not have any dramatic rescue in store for them, as did Pakistan have, from Afridi and company. Chasing an imposing target, NZ began faltering from the start. Gul made short work of Martin Guptill, sending him back for 4 in the tenth over, and youngster Mohammad Aamir scalping Ross Taylor for a duck.
Aaron Redmond (52) and Daniel Vettori (38) provided the only resistance during a 69-run fifth wicket stand but after which NZ sadly crumbled again, this time, finally. After scalping Vettori, Afridi also claimed Nathan McCullum's wicket for nought on the first ball itself. Five wickets fell for 10 runs, which had the Kiwis were calling it a day, all out for 149 runs.
The victory, which gave Pakistan a 1-0 lead with two more ODIs to go in the series, was also sweet revenge for the winners who lost to New Zealand in the Champions Trophy semi-final last month.
Skipper Younis Khan praised his deputy Afridi for his stellar performance and picking up the run-rate into such an incisive win. Interesting, considering all the recent speculation doing the rounds, of Afridi wanting to take over Khan's captaincy and the side being frought by divided loyalties.
The New Zealand side has their own troubles to contend with, with the team being coach-less after the dismissal of Andy Moles, and the role of coach now on Daniel Vettori's shoulders, adding to his responsibilites of skipper and selector.
The remaining two matches will also be played in Abu Dhabi on Friday, November 6 and Monday, November 9, before the two teams move to Dubai for two Twenty20 internationals on November 12 and 13.
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