Pakistan won the tri-series by defeating New Zealand by five wickets

Useful knocks from Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed helped Pakistan clinch the T20 tri-series after beating hosts New Zealand by five wickets in the final here on Friday, providing convincing proof of their preparations ahead of the World Cup. Chasing a target of 164, Pakistan lost their star batsman Mohammad Rizwan (34) and captain Babar Azam (15) including Shan Masood (19) for 74 runs.

But Nawaz (38 not out off 22 balls), Haider Ali (31 off 15 balls) and Iftikhar (25 not out off 14 balls) did not allow New Zealand to dominate and the economical bowling of Michael Bracewell (2 for 14) Despite this, the score reached 168 for five in 19.3 overs and gave the team victory.Iftikhar hits the winning six off Blair Tickner.

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Earlier, being invited to bat in New Zealand, he scored 163 for seven. For him, captain Kane Williamson played an innings of 59 runs off 38 balls, which included four fours and two sixes. Apart from him, Glenn Phillips contributed 29 and Mark Chapman contributed 25 runs. Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf took two wickets each for Pakistan. Bangladesh was the third team of the tournament organized in connection with the preparations for the World Cup. Pakistan’s first match in the World Cup will be against India on 23 October.