London, June 14: Umar Gul bulldozed New Zealand with a sensational five-wicket haul as Pakistan defeated New Zealand by six-wicket to keep their semifinals hopes alive in the World Twenty20 here on Saturday.
Gul’s incredible fast bowling spell resulted in Kiwi’s complete demolition as they were all out for a paltry 99 in 18.3 overs after deciding to bat in this Super Eight match.
Gul, introduced as late as in the 13th over, wreaked havoc in his three-over spell and emerged as the first bowler to claim five wickets in T20 Internationals.
Kiwis had already lost four wickets when Gul came to bowl and heavily turned the match in favour of his side with his sparkling spell.
Gul first got rid of Scott Styris, who top scored for New Zealand with his 22, and just rolled over the rest of the batting line-up to complete his magical spell.
Gul accounted for Peter McGlashan (8), Nathan McCullum (7), James Franklin (7) and Kyle Mills (0) in a hurry to complete his tally of wickets.
Except for three batsmen no Black Caps player could get a double digit score.
Abdul Razzaq (2/17), playing the first match for his country after quitting ICL, celebrated his return by rocking the Kiwi top-order at the start.
At the start, Razzaq struck as early as in the fourth ball of his first over when he dismissed Brendon McCullum (12) and then trapped trapped Martin Guptill (8) to leave New Zealand reeling at 37 for three.
McCullum had began fantastically, sending the first and last balls of the first over, bowled by Mohammed Aamer to boundaries but Razzaq cut short his knock.
Aamer had dealt the Kiwis second blow by sending back Aaron Redmond, who mistimed a full toss to find Umal Gul at mid-on.
The Kiwis never recovered from early blows and kept losing wickets at regular intervals, which took a heavy toll on their run rate.
Styris tried to break the shackles by hitting Saeed Ajmal for a long-on six as New Zealand huffed and puffed to 56 for four at half-way mark.
For Kiwis to reach a fighting total it was imperative for Styris and Jacob Oram to bat through the innings but charged up Pakistanis played a perfect foil.
Oram (5) was dismissed by an unplayable Shahid Afridi and Styris (22) was done in by a stunner of a catch by Afridi.
Pakistan almost made a mess of an easy chase before scoring the required runs with 6.5 overs to spare at the Oval.
The victory has strengthened Pakistan’s chances of making the finals stage as they next play minnows Ireland on Monday.
Shahzaib Hasan (35) and Kamran Akmal (19) began the chase in right earnest, putting up 36 runs in 4.2 overs but departure of the latter triggered a mini collapse.
Kiwi skipper Daniel Vettori (2/20) dismissed Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik to jolt the Pakistani camp.
However, skipper Younus Khan and Sahid Afridi saw the team through with a 29-run partnership.
–PTI–