HAMILTON, New Zealand: Skipper Kane Williamson and fellow opener Martin Guptill forged the highest partnership in Twenty20 Internationals to secure New Zealand a series-levelling 10-wicket victory against Pakistan in the second match in Hamilton on Sunday.
The 171-run stand between the two, who shared the man-of-the-match award, bettered the previous record of 170 between South African openers Graeme Smith and Loots Bosman against England in a 2009 match at Centurion.
The tourists struggled to come to terms with the contrasting batting styles of New Zealand’s opening pair who milked the Pakistan attack with consummate ease.
Williamson hit 11 boundaries to remain unbeaten on 72 as his team sealed victory with 14 balls to spare.
Guptill faced 10 more balls for his 87 not out, hitting four sixes and nine boundaries, the last of which sealed victory and created a new partnership record.
Williamson had been the early aggressor, flitting about his crease to make use of errant lines from the Pakistan bowlers.
He slapped Mohammad Amir through the leg side for four in the second over, then cracked three fours through point off Imad Wasim soon after.
With the positioning of the pitch making the eastern square boundary only 52 metres, Williamson continued to move around his crease to target that — most memorably lap-scooping Amir to the fine-leg fence in the fifth over.
Williamson had New Zealand’s run rate hurtling at 10 an over inside the Powerplay, and it did not dip too far below that thereafter.
Guptill was more still at the crease, hitting a flat six off Umar Gul in the first over of the chase, but largely batting in Williamson’s slipstream before taking flight through the middle overs.
He struck consecutive fours, either side of the wicket, off Amir in the 13th over, and successive sixes off Shahid Afridi in the 15th.
Amir had a particularly poor outing, leaking 34 from his 3 overs, but no one in the Pakistan attack fared well.
Wahab Riaz went at 10 an over, and the usually-miserly Imad Wasim at 8.
Such was the adaptability of New Zealand’s batting, that they were not slowed by Afridi’s rifling through the attack, nor the several different fields he employed through the innings.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan posted 168 for seven in 20 overs with Umar Akmal (56 not out) and Shoaib Malik (39) scoring the bulk of the runs in the second match of the three-game series.
Akmal needed 22 balls for his fifty and hit four sixes as Pakistan settled for a score their bowlers eventually could not defend.
Mitchell McClenaghan was the best of New Zealand’s bowlers, delivering a tight line, largely on off stump, and mixing up his pace and lengths intelligently.
He had conceded only eight runs from his first three overs, but those figures were soured somewhat by Akmal’s late charge, during which the batsman struck two fours and a six in three balls.
McClenaghan did take valuable wickets, however, having bowled Malik with a yorker in his third over, then having Wasim top-edging a bouncer to fine leg in the penultimate over of the innings.
Pakistan had been 34 for 2 after 6.1 overs before Malik arrived to ease the innings into motion, beginning with singles to third man, then a spate of fours to that short boundary.
His 63-run fourth-wicket stand with Umar Akmal was the most substantial of the innings. Umar blasted consecutive sixes off Mitchell Santner to the short leg-side boundary early in his innings, but he wasn’t shy of taking on the longer boundary either.
He batted busily through the middle overs, and memorably launched Grant Elliott into the adjacent road in the 16th over, with a 103-metre hit over cow corner.
Clean striking in McClenaghan’s final over moved him to 50 off 22 balls — the second fastest T20 half-century for Pakistan just one ball behind his own record.
He lost partners in quick succession through those late overs, but appeared to have seen Pakistan through to a good score, given their successful defence of 171 two evenings prior.
Wellington hosts the decider on Friday.
Score Board
Pakistan won toss
Pakistan
M Hafeez c Astle b Santner 19
Ahmed Shehzad c Williamson b Anderson 9
Sohaib Maqsood c Santner b Elliott 18
Shoaib Malik b McClenaghan 39
Umar Akmal not out 56
*Shahid Afridi c Williamson b Milne 7
Imad Wasim c Milne b McClenaghan 8
†Sarfraz Ahmed run out 1
Wahab Riaz not out 0
Extras (b 1, lb 3, w 7) 11
Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 168
Did not bat: Umar Gul, M Amir
Fall: 1-29, 2-34, 3-67, 4-130, 5-137, 6-161, 7-163
Bowling: Santner 3-0-29-1 (2w); Anderson 4-0-26-1 (3w); Milne 4-0-37-1 (1w); McClenaghan 4-0-23-2 (1w); Astle 1-0-13-0; Elliott 4-0-36-1
New Zealand
M J Guptill not out 87
*K S Williamson not out 72
Extras (lb 6, w 6) 12
Total (0 wickets; 17.4 overs) 171
Did not bat: C Munro, C J Anderson, L R P L Taylor, G D Elliott, †L Ronchi, M J Santner, T D Astle, A F Milne, M J McClenaghan
Bowling: U Gul 2-0-18-0 (1w); Amir 3-0-34-0; Imad 4-0-32-0; Shahid 4-0-38-0; Wahab 3-0-30-0 (1w); Shoaib 1.4-0-13-0
Result: New Zealand won by 10 wickets
Series: 3-match series levelled by 1-1
Man of the Match: M J Guptill (NZ)
Umpires: B F Bowden and D J Walker. TV umpire: W R Knights. Match referee: D C Boon (Australia)