3 reasons why Pakistan lost the first ODI against New Zealand

After losing the five-match T20I series against New Zealand by a 1-4 margin, Pakistan took on the Blackcaps in the first match of the three-match ODI series. The game was played at the McLean Park in Napier. The visiting skipper Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and asked New Zealand to bat first. 

Batting first, the Kiwis posted a big total of 344 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in the allotted 50 overs courtesy of Mark Chapman’s brilliant century. He scored 132 runs off just 111 balls, with 13 fours and six sixes. Besides him, Daryl Mitchell and debutant Muhammad Abbas also scored half-centuries, hitting 76 and 52 runs, respectively. While chasing the target, the Men in Green were bundled out at the score of 271 runs and lost the game by a big margin of 73 runs. 

The three reasons why Pakistan lost the first ODI against New Zealand in Napier on Saturday:

Poor Bowling 

Pakistan bowlers were looking quite dominant when they had scalped 3 wickets of New Zealand at the score of just 50 runs in 12.4 overs. But they miserably failed to capitalize on this brilliant start and this poor bowling happened to cost the entire game for the Pakistan Cricket Team. 

Pakistan bowlers failed to break the match-winning partnership of 199 runs for the fourth wicket between Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell. Chapman smashed a century while Mitchell scored crucial 76 runs. They completely outmuscled the Pakistan bowling attack as their partnership went till the 42nd over, which started in the 13th over of the game. 

Batting Collapse 

Pakistan were going comfortably in their run-chase of the massive 345-run target as they had scored 249 runs for the loss of 3 wickets at one point in 38.3 overs. But what unfolded later in the next two to three overs in quick succession ended up as the major reason for Pakistan’s 73-run defeat against NZ in the first ODI. 

It was the middle-order batting collapse of Pakistan that took the scoreboard from 249 runs for the loss of 3 wickets to all-out for 271 runs. It means that Pakistan lost their 7 wickets in only 22 runs from 249 to 271. Former skipper Babar Azam and T20I skipper Salman Agha displayed some resilience with half-century knocks, scoring 78 and 58 runs, respectively. But they couldn’t win the match for Pakistan. 

Clueless Captaincy 

The captaincy abilities of Mohammad Rizwan should also be put under the scanner for Pakistan’s defeat in the ODI series opener against the hosts. It seemed to be an ‘out of the world’ theory or decision for cricket fans and experts when Rizwan chose to bowl first after winning the toss and that too at a batting-friendly deck. 

Later, he didn’t introduce the right bowling attack to break the Chapman-Mitchell partnership in the first innings that helped NZ post a big total. Rizwan’s clueless captaincy was also visible in the second inning during Pakistan’s run chase when didn’t put any effort into shuffling the batting order despite an unexpected collapse from a stable position. 

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