Opener Imam-ul-Haq led Pakistan from the front amid controlled bowling by New Zealand to restrict the home side to 287-6 in the third ODI in Karachi on Wednesday.
Fakhar Zaman, who scored two consecutive centuries in first two ODIs of this series, departed earlier. The left-handed batter didn’t find rhythm in today’s contest and had to leave after giving away his wicket to Matt Henry.
Imam continued his form from previous two matches and built momentum alongside skipper Babar Azam. The two batters shared the crease for an eye-catching partnership of 108 runs. Meanwhile, Babar completed his 26th fifty but couldn’t get to his 5000 ODI runs. He is just 19 runs short to this milestone.
On the other hand, Imam was looking good to finally score a century in this series. But, he once again fell on nervous 90. His innings included seven boundaries and a six.
Mohammad Rizwan and Agha Salman, in the end, tried to score some runs for Pakistan. They both scored 54 runs together.
Shadab Khan (21*) and Mohammad Nawaz (11*) played cameos in the end to help Pakistan put up a defendable total.
For New Zealand, Henry picked up three wickets while Adam Milne bagged two scalps. Cole McConchie also managed to take a wicket.
