Srinagar: Mark Chapman played a sensational inning as New Zealand second string side stunned home side Pakistan in the third T20I of the series by seven wickets at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
The series is now level at 1-1 with two matches remaining in Lahore. The matches are scheduled on April 25 and 27 at the Gaddafi Stadium.
New Zealand chasing 179-run target had a solid start with openers Tim Robinson (28) and Tim Seifert (21), scoring 42 runs for the first wicket.
The home side looked to stage a comeback with back-to-back dismissals by Naseem Shah and Abbas Afridi but Chapman, paired with Dean Foxcroft had their plans.
The left-hander was the aggressor in the partnership of 117 runs while Foxcroft supported him brilliantly. Chapman reached to his eighth fifty in this format and finished on an unbeaten score of 87. He stroked nine fours and four sixes in his 42-ball innings
Foxcroft made 31 off 29 balls with the chase completing in the 19th over.
Earlier, Pakistan posted 178/4 after being put into bat first. The hosts started well with Saim Ayub dominating the visitors. The opening duo of Saim and Babar made 54/0. Saim was caught by James Neesham off Ish Sodhi’s bowling after scoring 32 runs from 22 balls at a strike rate of 145.45.
Babar looked in great touch but was caught by Jacob Duffy, bowled by Michael Bracewell, He contributed 37 runs off 29 deliveries at a strike rate of 127.58.
Mohammad Rizwan had to retire hurt after scoring 23 runs from 22 balls, with Irfan Khan replacing him.
Usman Khan again couldn’t score much and was dismissed after scoring 4 runs from 6 balls.
Irfan was joined by all-rounder Shadab Khan and the duo smashed an explosive partnership with the latter dominating the proceedings.
In a 62-run partnership, Shadab stroked 41 runs off 20 balls with the help of six boundaries.
Meanwhile, Irfan finished not-out on 20-ball 30, smashing three fours and a six.
Ish Sodhi ended up as the best bowler for New Zealand, finishing with figures of 2/25.