Under-strength On Sunday, New Zealand defeated Pakistan by 47 runs in the fifth and final one-day cricket match to prevent a clean sweep of the series for Pakistan.
After being dismissed for 252 in 46.1 overs, which was the lowest score of the series for Pakistan, the run-machine Babar Azam went for just one run in his 100th ODI, dropping Pakistan to third place in the ODI rankings behind Australia and India.
After winning the fourth match of the series on Friday, Pakistan climbed to the top of the ODI rankings, but to stay there, it would have needed a 5-0 sweep.
Will Young’s (87) and captain Tom Latham’s (59) half-centuries served as the cornerstone of New Zealand’s total of 299 in 49.3 overs after Latham won the toss for the third time in a row in the Karachi leg of the series but elected to bat first.
Iftikhar Ahmed, batting in the middle order, came close to scoring his first ODI century but fell short, scoring a valiant unbeaten 94 off 72 deliveries after Pakistan’s top order faltered for the first time in the series.
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Fakhar Zaman (33) and Shan Masood (7) both had trouble with Matt Henry and Adam Milne’s perfect lengths with the new ball before Masood, after battling for 20 balls, played Henry back onto his stumps.
Babar had a fantastic series in which he set a record for the quickest player to 5,000 runs in ODI cricket, doing so in just 97 innings. However, on Sunday, one of the four changes New Zealand made for the final game resulted in the Pakistan captain being caught at backward point off Henry Shipley (3-34).
With a 97-run fifth-wicket stand, Iftikhar and Salman Ali Agha restarted Pakistan’s pursuit before Shipley returned and ended the partnership by having Agha caught at mid-off in the 35th over.
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In the final overs, Iftikhar ran out of partners. Left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra finished with 3-65, and No. 11 Haris Rauf was run out while attempting a second run at the non-striker’s end.
Earlier, Young missed out on the chance to score a hundred for the second time in the series as Pakistan’s strategy of using two specialised leg-spinners paid off in the middle overs.
Usama Mir (2-53) and Shadab Khan (2-67), two leg spinners, shared four of the top five wickets. When Shadab identified a thin outside edge on Young’s bat, he took two crucial wickets. When Mark Chapman (43) attempted to accelerate with Latham, Shadab had Mohammad Rizwan catch him well down the leg side.
Henry Nicholls, who took over for Daryl Mitchell at No. 3, was dismissed by Mir, and Latham holed out in the deep while attempting a big shot before Pakistan’s pacers took control in the final few overs.
Cole McConchie (26) and Rachin Ravindra (28) made brief cameo appearances, but Pakistan recovered well in the final five overs, taking five wickets for 32 runs, including Shaheen Shah Afridi (3-46) and Haris Rauf (1-45).
Due to their commitments in the Indian Premier League, eight of New Zealand’s regular players were absent from the white-ball tour to Pakistan. After falling behind 2-0 in the series, New Zealand drew the T20 match 2-2.
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