New Zealand opening batter Tim Seifert hammered star Pakistani fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for four sixes in an over on Tuesday (March 18). In the third over of New Zealand’s innings of the second T20I played between the two teams at the University Oval in Dunedin, the 30-year-old right-handed batter opened his account with a big six down the ground on the first ball, and then on the second delivery, he smacked another six over the backward point.
After playing dot ball on the third and taking two runs on the fourth ball, Seifert hit two big sixes over the deep midwicket region to take his tally of sixes to four in the over. Thanks to his superb hitting in the third over of the run chase, the Kiwis found the momentum in the game, which was cut short to 15 overs per side due to rain in Dunedin.
Shaheen conceded a total of 26 runs in the third over of the chase, and it was the first time in T20Is that he conceded these many runs in an over of a T20I match. The Pakistani team, which suffered a big defeat by nine wickets in the series opener played on Sunday (March 16) in Christchurch, had high hopes from Shaheen, but he failed to live up to the expectations despite starting the match by bowling a maiden over against Seifert.
Shaheen, who is one of the three fast bowlers to take 100 wickets in T20Is for Pakistan, finished the match with figures of 0/31 in three overs, and Pakistan went on to lose the match by five wickets.
The hosts rode on Seifert’s 45 from 22 balls (3 fours, 5 sixes), Finn Allen’s (38 from 16 balls, 1 four and 5 sixes) and wicketkeeper-batter Mitchell Hay’s unbeaten 21-run knock from 16 balls to chase down the target of 136 runs in 13.1 overs.
For Pakistan, Haris Rauf, who was added to the playing XI for the second T20I, picked up two wickets for 20 runs in his quota of three overs, and one Kiwi batter each was sent back to the pavilion by Mohammad Ali, Khushdil Shah and Jahandad Khan.
The third T20I of the ongoing five-match series is scheduled to take place at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday (March 21).
