Pakistan go off to a poor start as they lost a Twenty20 match to Auckland in a warm up match at Colin Maiden Park. The match was held on Thursday. This is Pakistan's only warm-up game before they take on New Zealand in a three-match T20I series at Auckland.
Pakistan were put in to bat, they were immediately in trouble, losing two wickets in the first over and never recovering as Auckland’s left-arm pacer Michael Bates ripped through the top order, getting Mohammed Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad. In Bates' next over he got rid of the big fish - the captain Shahid Afridi, for 1. Middle-order batsmen Younis Khan and Umar Akmal provided brief resistance for the visitors with a 38-run fourth-wicket partnership.
Akmal's 25 off 29 balls was the highest score for Pakistan and some lusty hitting in the end by Abdul Razzaq and Umar Gul sent them to 91.
In reply, after an energetic start, the Kiwis did lose wickets in a heap to slump to 68/5. But Martin Guptill's 28 saw them home with seven overs to spare. Shoaib Akhtar and Saeed Ajmal took a couple of wickets each.
Next up it's New Zealand at Eden Park on Boxing Day and Pakistan's coach, Waqar Younis, maintained last night things would be different.
"It's not the most ideal start, but that happens sometimes when you've just arrived in the country and don't know much about the pitch conditions," he said."Unfortunately the batting didn't click and nobody took responsibility, which was the key. They've learned their lesson and hopefully next up will be a different ball game."
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