Speaking at the post-match presentation, Babar debunked the team’s slow approach in the middle overs as the reason behind their loss and instead asserted that the Green Shirts were 10 runs short of a defendable total.
“I don’t think it [slow run-rate during the middle overs] made much of a difference because we had caught up. You can say we were 10 runs short,” said Azam.
“Unfortunately, we had a bit of a setback with Rizwan [injury] because it wasn’t easy for new batsmen but I think Shadab recovered well and had an outstanding partnership with Irfan. In Pindi, 180-190 is a par score. In batting, we did well.”
For the unversed, Mark Chapman’s swashbuckling unbeaten half-century powered New Zealand to a comfortable seven-wicket victory in the third T20I here at Pindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Chapman carried his bat all the way through and guided New Zealand over the line on the second delivery of the penultimate over.
He remained the top-scorer for New Zealand with an unbeaten 87 off 42 deliveries. His match-winning knock featured nine boundaries and four sixes.
With the five-match series squared off at 1-1, both teams will now travel to Lahore where the last two T20Is will be played on April 25 and 27 respectively.
Pakistan squad for New Zealand T20Is
Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haseebullah (wk), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Irfan Khan Niazi, Usama Mir, Zaman Khan
Reserves: Mohammad Ali, Agha Salman, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Wasim Jr.
New Zealand squad:
Michael Bracewell (c), Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Zak Foulkes, Jimmy Neesham, Will O’Rourke, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert (WK), Ish Sodhi.