However, once Conway was dismissed, dark clouds loomed as run rate started to Detroit but Daryl Mitchell kept his calm for a few overs before being dismissed by Agha Salman. From thereon, New Zealand stumbled and lost Mitchell , Williamson and Bracewell in quick succession.
From 159 for 2 to 205 for 6. New Zealand looked in trouble but Glenn Phillips decided to steer the ship other way. He played one of the finest knock of his career and won the match for New Zealand with his 42 balls 63.
Kane Williamson played a key role. It was captaincy that made the difference in this match. Babar Azam failed to read the situation well and couldn’t take key decisions. While batting, Babar could only score 4 runs. In his career, for the first Babar has been dismissed stumped out on three consecutive occasions. However, that doesn’t take anything away from his playing credentials and Kane Williamson thinks similarly about Babar.
During the post match conference, Kane Williamson was asked about Babar Azam. There has been some criticism about his slow strike rate which is not usual way to go in modern age of cricket.
“Yeah, I mean every time he’s come out, you know, and we’ve seen obviously a number of innings throughout the years and he is a very, very special world class player. So you know, he can take the game away from you. He can play in all formats.”
“He’s got all the different gears and he’s certainly showed us class throughout throughout this series and he’s going to continue to do it. I’ve got no doubt in the years to come. So yeah, a very special player,” Williamson said.
Babar Azam remains a world class player but he has not evolved as a world class captain. Kane Williamson certainly has that quality, he can read the game very well and calmly decide what approach to take.
Also, Pakistan is missing a heavy hitter middle order batsman like New Zealand has Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, India has Hardik Pandya, Australia has Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis. There is a great need of such players in modern day cricket.