Clinical NZ brush Pakistan aside to lift tri-series title

An all-round performance from New Zealand took them to a comfortable five-wicket win over Pakistan in the tri-series final in Karachi. Mohammad Rizwan's decision to bat at the toss was surprising, given the chasing bias at the venue but it was also Pakistan's attempt to try something new before the Champions Trophy. However, New Zealand's bowlers led by Will O'Rourke (4-43, Mitchell Santner (2-20) and Michael Bracewell (2-38) put on a disciplined show to restrict Pakistan to a modest total of 242. The Black Caps then chased it down with a collective effort, spearheaded by fifties from Daryl Mitchell and Tom Latham to get the job done with 28 balls to spare.

Earlier in the afternoon, Pakistan struggled for momentum on a Karachi surface that was quite distinct from the one that saw the hosts chasing down a 350-plus score against South Africa two nights ago. The track was drier and two-paced, allowing the spinners and bowlers who take pace-off cleverly to be effective. O'Rourke set the tone early with a fiery new-ball spell that included the big scalp of Fakhar Zaman. The left-hander fell to a soft dismissal, chipping one to mid-wicket.

Babar Azam started off on a positive note and seemed to be timing them well, also getting to 6000 ODI runs in the process - the joint-fastest to do so along with Hashim Amla. However, Babar once again failed to convert the start and departed to a tame return catch by Nathan Smith. In between these two dismissals was Saud Shakeel whose promotion to no.3 failed once more as he got castled by Bracewell's arm-ball. It was down to Rizwan and Salman Agha once again, and the pair tried to steady the ship with a dogged partnership.

However, unlike the game against South Africa, the duo couldn't get a solid tempo to their innings on a sluggish pitch. Boundaries were hard to come by and just when both were set, they perished in search of big shots. Rizwan in particular endured a torrid time in the middle as he failed to get going fluently. Just after launching O'Rourke for a six, he played one on to the stumps to give New Zealand a big breakthrough. Bracewell then accounted for Salman as the latter tried to take the matchup on. The off-spinner along with his skipper were exceptional in the middle overs with their accuracy.

The Pakistan innings fell apart towards the end and if not for some cameos from the likes of Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf and Naseem Shah, the score would have been much lower. New Zealand were a tad sloppy in the field in the last three to four overs but otherwise, they put on a great show. With dew not really coming in, the chase was bound to be tricky and Pakistan's new-ball duo found sharp movement early on. Naseem got Will Young with one that darted back off the seam to trap him LBW. Williamson (34) and Devon Conway (48) then put on a 71-run stand for the second wicket to stabilise things for a while.

Conway, though, looked scratchy throughout and it was Williamson who did the bulk of the scoring initially in the partnership. It seemed like the pair would do a repeat of their partnership against South Africa but Salman cleaned up Williamson to break the stand. Conway continued to struggle but dug in for a bit more before a sharp Naseem bumper found the top-edge to end his stay. At 108/3, the game was in the balance although the Black Caps didn't really have the scoreboard pressure to contend with.

Mitchell and Latham combined for a match-defining partnership of 87 that all but sealed the game. The left-hander, though, was extremely lucky to survive a few dropped catches and a run out as well. Pakistan were made to regret those blips as Latham and Mitchell went about their job with ease. Neither of them were able to bat till the very end but that didn't matter as Bracewell along with Glenn Phillips got the job done with aplomb.

Brief scores: Pakistan242 in 49.3 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 46; Will ORourke 4-43, Mitchell Santner 2-20, Michael Bracewell 2-38) lost to New Zealand 243-5 in 45.2 overs (Daryl Mitchell 57, Tom Latham 56; Naseem Shah 2-43) by five wickets.