Pakistan beat New Zealand in third T20

Team Pakistan celebrates after winning the third T20 match between New Zealand and Pakistan at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.- Photo by M. Sajjad

Dubai - The 24-year-old Azam struck 79 from 58 deliveries, peppered with seven boundaries and two sixes.

Opener Babar Azam conjured his eighth half-century and became the fastest to 1000 runs in T20 Internationals as Pakistan made a clean sweep of New Zealand on Sunday night.
The 24-year-old Azam struck 79 from 58 deliveries, peppered with seven boundaries and two sixes as Pakistan beat the Black Caps by 47 runs to wrap the series 3-0 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson had spoken about making the small improvements but he was left to wage a lone battle in the 167-run chase as they collapsed from 96 for two to 119 all out, losing eight wickets for 23 runs.
Azam's landmark came in his 26^th innings, one less than Virat Kohli, with the Indian captain reaching that milestone against South Africa in Dharamsala in 2015.
It was a workmanlike performance from Pakistan, who extended their sequence of consecutive T20 International wins to nine, their last defeat coming against Australia in Harare in July.
Apart from Azam, Shadab Khan too played a fine hand with the 20-year-old leg spinner taking three wickets.
The openers Azam and Fakhar Zaman gave them a steady start after opting to bat, and they picked up the momentum as the game wore on.
Azam was the cornerstone on which their total was built and while he truly deserved the applause on setting a new benchmark, Mohammad Hafeez too played a pivotal role.
After sitting out the Zimbabwe series and then being dropped for the Asia Cup, Hafeez has reinvented himself and that came to the fore yet again.
Scores of 39, 40 and an unbeaten 32 against the Australians in the three-match T20 series that preceded this, Hafeez continued the string of hefty scores against the Kiwis.
Hafeez followed up the 45 in Abu Dhabi and the unbeaten 34 in Dubai on Friday night with an unbeaten 53, his 10^th in the format, studded with four boundaries and two sixes.
Also recalled to the ODIs against the Black Caps, it could be a career-defining next few months for the 38-year-old Hafeez as he eyes a swansong at the World Cup in England next year.
Earlier, Azam and Zaman laid the bricks with 29 being the opening stand and once the latter was swallowed by Mark Chapman off Lockie Ferguson, Azam and Hafeez joined hands.
And it was a treat to watch the duo as they nonchalantly flayed the New Zealand attack with some sumptuous shots around the park. But it was not just the big shots alone, with their quick running between the wickets being a feature of their 94 alliance for the second wicket.
As Azam crossed his milestone with a single off Ferguson in the 12^th over, he got a firm handshake from his senior partner.
Azam and Hafeez could have seen Pakistan to the end of the innings but a slower one from pacer Colin de Grandhomme, who had just come on, deceived Azam.
By then though, Pakistan were well placed for the final assault and Shoaib Malik did a bit of that as soon as he arrived to the crease.
Malik, who just became a father, smacked de Grandhomme for successive boundaries and although he was dropped by Glenn Philips, who botched the offering at deep mid-wicket, he and Hafeez maintained the pressure on the Kiwis, with 54 runs coming in the final five overs.
The two sides will now square off over three One Day Internationals, with two to be played in Abu Dhabi and one in Dubai.

Brief scores: