Despite winning the three match T20 series against Pakistan, New Zealand captain Ross Taylor was a disappointed man as his side crashed to an embarrassing 103 runs defeat to the rampaging men in green in the third T20 match played at the AIM Stadium in Christchurch.
The massive win tumbled many records on the way, most of them causing embarrassment to the hosts who crashed to their lowest score in the shortest format of the game.
Besides, the defeat margin was the biggest in a T20 match involving two test playing members of ICC.
It also ended Pakistan’s woeful recent run of six consecutive defeats in the instant format of the game, Shahid Afridi’s men ended the poor run in style by a record breaking win.
The unpredictable Pakistanis have their own way of rebounding in style from a sequence of poor results; they ended their 9 match ODI losing streak by thumping the Bangladeshis in an Asia Cup fixture in Sri Lanka earlier in the year.
After the defeat Taylor admitted that his team were second best on the day and it was a big disappointment since the squad was harbouring hopes of a three-zero whitewash against the former T20 World Champions.
"We wanted to win the series 3-0 after what's happened over the last few months," Taylor said, "and it's disappointing to put out a performance like that in front of a pretty good crowd."
Chasing a stiff victory target of 184, the Black Caps were blown away by a Pakistani bowling attack that was without the feared fast bowling duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul.
The hosts were dismissed for 80 runs in 15.5 overs, and at one stage were 3 for 4; the top four batsmen in the order were all dismissed for ducks. "It's a very disappointing way to end the series … when your four top batsmen get out for nothing it's pretty tough chasing a total”, said Taylor who had taken over the captaincy after Daniel Vettori was ruled out due to an injury.
"The pitch changed a little bit but the way Abdul Razzaq and [Shahid] Afridi bowled was just outstanding," he concluded.
On the other hand the Pakistani captain Shahid Afridi who recorded career best bowling figures of 4 for 14 in 2.5 overs was pleased with the performance of his team.
His rich wicket haul also meant that he became the first player to reach the milestone of 50 Twenty20 wickets.
"This is the talent of Pakistan but we should be consistent," Afridi said. "We're trying to make a team combination before the World Cup (in February). I know we lost the series but this was a big win for us to keep our morale high."
The New Zealand think tank is now concentrating on turning the tables in two match test series that starts next Friday; the Black Caps had a decent series in India where they played out two draws out of three tests against the number one ranked test team in the world.
However, they have not recorded many wins in the longest format of the game either; only 2 of the last 19 tests have gone in their favour.
They would be boosted by the fact that one of those wins came against Pakistan at Dunedin in the first match of the three matches series held last year.
The Pakistani team in the tests would be led by middle-order batsman Misbah Ul Haq. The right hander led the team to two honorable draws against the South Africans in the UAE last month.
