WATCH: Never seen before! New Zealand batter's bizarre diving effort to play a wide ball

Pakistan won the final match of the five-match T20I series against New Zealand to level the series 2-2.

 By Monojit Das Apr 28, 2024, 11:53 IST
Tim Seifert dive?width=963&height=541&resizemode=4

While the IPL 2024 is going on, there is another international series that was held in the neighbouring country as Pakistan hosted New Zealand for a five-match T20I series. The final match of the series was played at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Pakistan batted first after the visitors elected to field first after winning the toss. They scored 178-5, thanks to skipper Babar Azam's 69 runs off 44 balls. Babar struck 6 fours and 2 sixes during his knock. Fakhar Zaman and Usman Khan also chipped in with useful cameos.

In reply, New Zealand were all out for 169 in the final over of the match, thus falling short by 9 runs. Tim Seifert scored a quickfire 52 while opening the batting to give the team to a bright start. But once he fell in the ninth over of the innings, NZ lost their way and lost wickets in clusters. Despite a late blitz from Josh Clarkson, New Zealand fell short of the target.

WATCH: Tim Seifert's full stretch diving effort to play a wide ball

During the sixth over of the the New Zealand's innings, left-arm quick Mohammad Amir bowled a wide ball to batter Tim Seifert. Seifert was shimming down the leg side. But Amir changed his line and bowled far wide of off stump. Seifert vaulted towards the ball and gave it his all but could not connect.

It was an athletic effort from the NZ batter who was batting fluently at 36 off just 20 balls at that stage. Seifert went on to top-score for his side with 52 runs off 33 balls. He hit 7 fours and 2 sixes during his knock.

Shaheen Afridi and Usama Mir had outstanding outings with the ball as they produced figures of 4-30 and 2-21 respectively. Shaeen Afridi was also adjudged Player of the Match and Player of the series for his brilliant bowling performances.

Also read: 2007 winner recommends Sanju Samson for T20 World Cup after audacious knock

The five-match series ended level at 2-2 with Pakistan winning the final match. The first match of the series was washed out due to rain. Pakistan won the second game but New Zealand made a stunning comeback by winning the next two games. The result is a reality check for Pakistan before the T20 World Cup as they were playing a second string New Zealand side.

For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube.

From around the web