243/5 (45.2)
CR : 5.36
242/10 (49.3)
CR : 4.89
New Zealand won by 5 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
William O'Rourke
4/43
William O'Rourke (Player of the Match): "There was a nice breeze coming across the ground. It just helped me to push it across the left-hander.
Yeah, we thought that the pitch was a little bit two paced and went hard hitting the pitch. We wanted to keep bowling the hard lengths and hit the wicket hard.
The boys have been playing nicely. We wanted to take the momentum. Going into the tournament with momentum is obviously good for us.
Not sure about that, but I'll try my best to bowl even faster."
Yeah, we thought that the pitch was a little bit two paced and went hard hitting the pitch. We wanted to keep bowling the hard lengths and hit the wicket hard.
The boys have been playing nicely. We wanted to take the momentum. Going into the tournament with momentum is obviously good for us.
Not sure about that, but I'll try my best to bowl even faster."
Bowler of the Series: William O'Rourke
Batter of the Series: Kane Williamson
Player of the Tournament: Agha Salman
Agha Salman (Player of the Tournament): "Thanks to the almighty. I am happy, but we didn't win at the end of the day. We will now focus on the Champions Trophy.
This is something we need to expect in Karachi. One pitch will be a belter, and the other one will play like this. It was going to be slower, and the ball was gripping.
I love batting. So I will go with it. It was a challenging wicket to bat. It was a 280-290 kind of a wicket, but we were 30-40 runs short. My and Rizwan's wickets made it 240, otherwise it could've been different story."
This is something we need to expect in Karachi. One pitch will be a belter, and the other one will play like this. It was going to be slower, and the ball was gripping.
I love batting. So I will go with it. It was a challenging wicket to bat. It was a 280-290 kind of a wicket, but we were 30-40 runs short. My and Rizwan's wickets made it 240, otherwise it could've been different story."
Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan Captain): "We opted to bat first because we thought it would be difficult to bat on this pitch in the second half. It was a tough pitch to bat. A lot of credit to their bowlers as they put a squeeze on us.
We lost three early wickets. I and Agha Salman had to play that kind of knocks and build up a partnership. We were looking for something around 280 odd. We tried doing that, but they were not giving us the balls to work with. We kept the target to 280 and not 300. We were 15 runs short. They were bowling well.
I lost my wicket at the wrong time.
We have to bring improvement in fielding. This is one department we are lacking. Abrar Ahmed has really improved. The others have to improve as well.
We wanted to prepare for the 19th as well, so that is why we wanted to bat first. No, we wanted to improve on that as we wanted to take the pressure of batting first as well.
We lost three early wickets. I and Agha Salman had to play that kind of knocks and build up a partnership. We were looking for something around 280 odd. We tried doing that, but they were not giving us the balls to work with. We kept the target to 280 and not 300. We were 15 runs short. They were bowling well.
I lost my wicket at the wrong time.
We have to bring improvement in fielding. This is one department we are lacking. Abrar Ahmed has really improved. The others have to improve as well.
We wanted to prepare for the 19th as well, so that is why we wanted to bat first. No, we wanted to improve on that as we wanted to take the pressure of batting first as well.
Mitchell Santner (New Zealand Captain): "I guess so. We have ticked the most of the boxes. It is nice to win tonight. There are different guys stepping up at different times, which is good.
It actually means nothing till we play that first game at the Champions Trophy.
The pitch was a bit slower than what we thought it would be. It was a two-paced one. We just wanted to bowl in a good spot and build pressure. If we take wickets upfront, the job will be easier in the middle.
When O'Rourke swung the ball like that, he would be a problem for batters.
The batting powerplay is very important. It's always a challenge with the new ball.
Jacob Duffy also bowled well. He bowled in good areas as well in partnership with O'Rourke.
Tom Latham would be pretty relieved as well. We know how good he is, and it was just a matter of time. It was nice for different guys to fire as well."
It actually means nothing till we play that first game at the Champions Trophy.
The pitch was a bit slower than what we thought it would be. It was a two-paced one. We just wanted to bowl in a good spot and build pressure. If we take wickets upfront, the job will be easier in the middle.
When O'Rourke swung the ball like that, he would be a problem for batters.
The batting powerplay is very important. It's always a challenge with the new ball.
Jacob Duffy also bowled well. He bowled in good areas as well in partnership with O'Rourke.
Tom Latham would be pretty relieved as well. We know how good he is, and it was just a matter of time. It was nice for different guys to fire as well."
Mitchell Santner collects the Trophy and poses for the photographs alongside his teammates. The celebrations are mild as New Zealand know that a big couple of weeks are ahead of them.
New Zealand convincingly thump Pakistan to win the Tri-Nation tournament with a five-wicket win in the finale. So, all three ODI series in Asia have finished with less than a week remaining for the Champions Trophy. These two teams will meet at the same venue on 19th February to kickstart the marquee event.
For now, this is me AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Pritam Dey and Sumeet Mate, and scorer/analyst Raju Khariya, who brought you all the live-action of this riveting final. We will meet again. Until then, it's cheers!
For now, this is me AkshayaKrishna Polya, signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Pritam Dey and Sumeet Mate, and scorer/analyst Raju Khariya, who brought you all the live-action of this riveting final. We will meet again. Until then, it's cheers!