In the first semi-final match of T20 World Cup 2022, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 8 wickets to make it to the final. Batting first, the New Zealand team scored 152/4 in 20 overs, in response, the Pakistan team scored 153/3 with five balls to spare. Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan was adjudged the player of the match for his brilliant innings.
New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first but the team started poorly and Finn Allen’s wicket fell on the third ball of the first over. Allen became a victim of Shaheen Afridi by scoring 4 runs. Devon Conway batted for a while but he too was run out on a personal score of 20. Glenn Phillips, who was in excellent form on the score of 49 in the eighth over, was also dismissed and only 6 runs came from his bat. From here, captain Kane Williamson and Daryl Mitchell batted hard and shared a half-century partnership to take the score to 117. Williamson was dismissed after scoring 46 runs. Mitchell batted till the end and scored 53 not out off 35 balls with the help of three fours and a six. James Neesham also remained unbeaten on 16 runs. Shaheen Afridi took the highest two wickets for Pakistan.
Chasing the target, the opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam got Pakistan off to a great start. Both added 105 runs for the first wicket. During this, Babar scored his first half-century of the current tournament and scored 53 runs. Rizwan also scored his fifty but went ahead and got out in an attempt to hit a big shot. He contributed 57 runs. From here Mohammad Haris played some big shots. Haris was also dismissed close to victory and he returned to the pavilion after scoring 30 runs in 26 balls. Masood gave his team victory by hitting a winning shot.
