Pakistan's T20 captain Salman Ali Agha has expressed mixed feelings following his team’s five-wicket defeat against New Zealand in the second T20I at University Oval in Dunedin on Tuesday.
Despite the loss, which put Pakistan 2-0 behind in the five-match series, Agha said in the post-match press conference that he was seeing encouraging signs in his team’s performance, particularly in the batting and fielding departments.
“It was freezing. But compared to the last game, this was a much better performance. We batted well, and our fielding was outstanding. The bowling had its moments too, but we need to adjust to the different bounce here,” Agha maintained.
Pakistan, who were crushed by nine wickets in the opening T20I, put up an improved display in the rain-shortened second match, which was reduced to 15 overs per side.
However, their total of 135 runs proved insufficient as New Zealand chased it down with five wickets in hand.
Agha admitted that Pakistan’s bowling unit struggled early on, allowing the New Zealand openers to dominate the powerplay. However, he credited Haris Rauf and the rest of the attack for pulling things back later in the innings.
“After the powerplay, we bowled well, and Haris was exceptional. But as a unit, we need to be better in the powerplay—both while bowling and batting,” he emphasized.
With the series slipping away, Pakistan will need to make significant adjustments ahead of the crucial third T20I, which is set to take place in Auckland on March 21.
The final two matches are scheduled in Mount Maunganui and Wellington on March 23 and 26, respectively.
Haris Rauf, who had a 2/20 spell in the match, defended the young team's effort at the post-match press conference.
"The effort was there, but the result was not in our favor. We were a bit unlucky," said Rauf.