New Zealand continue winning streak over Pakistan

New Zealand continued their winning over Pakistan when they beat the tourists by seven wickets in the first of three T20Is in Wellington on Monday.

After whitewashing their opponents five-nil in the ODI series, the Kiwis continued where they left off as they dismissed Pakistan for a paltry 105 after stand-in captain Tim Southee elected to bowl first.

The visitors were quickly in dire straits as they slumped to 38/5 in the tenth over with seamers Southee and Seth Rance doing the early damage.

Southee ended with figures of 3-13 in his four overs and Rance, playing in only his third T20I, ended with 3-26 from four overs while left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner took 2-15.

Babar Azam (41) and tail-ender Hasan Ali (23) were the only two players in the Pakistan line-up to reach double figures.

The home side lost Martin Guptill (2) and Glenn Phillips (3) early in the chase, both to left-arm seamer Rumman Raees, to be 8/2 but Colin Munro and Tom Bruce (26) combined to take the total up to 57 in the 11th over before Bruce was a victim of leg-spinner Shadab Khan.

Munro (49 not out) and the experienced Ross Taylor (22 not out) made sure there were no further hiccups as New Zealand coasted home with more than four overs to spare.

The next T20I is at Eden Park on Thursday with Pakistan’s tour coming to end on Sunday in Mount Maunganui.

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