Mohammad Nawaz, an all-around player, assisted Pakistan in beating New Zealand by five wickets on Friday to win the tri-series Twenty20 final in Christchurch with three balls remaining. The fact that Pakistan’s World Cup campaign in Australia began on October 23 against its bitter rival India was encouraging. Spinner Michael Bracewell stopped Pakistan’s early momentum in their response after the hosts reached their final score of 163-7 at Hagley Oval, and Nawaz then came through with his decisive 38 off 22 balls.

Nawaz played another outstanding innings, and he also helped Pakistan escape difficulty during their dead-rubber triumph over Bangladesh on Thursday. Iftikhar Ahmed then hit a six in the penultimate over to give Pakistan the victory.

The Black Caps got off to a strong start, with skipper Kane Williamson leading the way with 59 points off of 38 balls thanks to a brilliant performance of stroke play.

Finn Allen smashed three fours for the home team before being caught by Naseem Shah for 12 off six balls as the hosts raced out of the blocks.

Following an elbow injury, Williamson struggled for form and entered the game in 2022 to calm fears with his first fifty in any format.

Tim Southee, who was playing in his 100th T20 international match, was destroyed by Pakistan’s opening batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan for nine runs in the first over, and for ten in the second.

Azam and Shan Masood were both bowled by the spinner Bracewell after receiving the ball. Bracewell won the series as a whole.

The dangerous Rizwan was then caught by Ish Sodhi and scored 34 runs off 29 balls.

However, Nawaz returned to the crease to regain control of the game, and Iftikhar’s majestic six with three balls remaining effectively sealed victory, just as he had against Bangladesh.