Wellington, New Zealand: Pakistan's Shahid Afridi smashed 67 from 29 balls to help the visitors recover from a bad start and reach 210 batting first in Saturday's one-day game against New Zealand.
Pakistan lost opener Mohammad Hafeez to the fifth ball of its innings and struggled to 32-3 in the 12th over before captain Misbah-ul-Haq staunched the flow of wickets with his innings of 58.
After Pakistan slumped further to 127-6, Misbah joined Afridi in a counter-attacking partnership of 71 for the seventh wicket.
Afridi included nine fours and three sixes in a whirlwind innings which gave Pakistan some chance of victory against the in-form Black Caps.
New Zealand again got good value from its varied attack with all-rounders Grant Elliott and Corey Anderson sharing five wickets.
New Zealand drew on the experience of its 34-run loss to Sri Lanka at the same venue two days ago when it won the toss and bowled. Captain Brendon McCullum reasoned that there would be swing for bowlers who maintained a fuller length and so it proved.
Veteran Kyle Mills, who took the new ball and dismissed in the first over, bowled his 10 overs consecutively and finished with 2-29.
Trent Boult was economical in his opening spell and took 2-25 from nine overs while Adam Milne — who returned from a side strain to bowl at good pace — dismissed Afridi and finished with 1-43.
Elliott provided a real bonus for New Zealand, taking 3-26 from 4.3 overs of his undemanding medium pace. He dismissed Misbah in the 42nd over, when Pakistan was 198-7, and also claimed the wickets of Umar Akmal for 5 and Ehsan Ali, the last man to fall in the 46th over, for 6.
Anderson's relatively spritely medium pace produced the wickets of Haris Sohail for 23 and Sarfraz Ahmed for 5. New Zealand's strong bowling performance was supported by another sound effort in the field, notably from Martin Guptill who took three catches.
Misbah faced 87 deliveries for his 58, hitting four fours and two sixes to hold the innings together when a score below 150 looked possible.
Afridi came to the wicket during the batting powerplay and was bent on all-out attack from the outset. He swung lustily at everything and hurried to his 39th half century in his 390th one-day international.
He hit sixes square of the wicket on the leg side and down the ground and he pierced the field, sometimes through good luck but mostly through deft placements. He needed to go on after Misbah's dismissal but he wouldn't curb his attacking style and was caught in the deep off Milne.
