Karachi, Feb 20: New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner praised centurions Will Young and Tom Latham for helping the team post an above par total of 320/5 against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy opener here on Wednesday.New Zealand beat defending champions Pakistan by 60 runs to start their campaign on an emphatic note.
“I thought Pakistan bowled well, even through the middle stage, but the way Young and Latham rotated the strike and got the odd boundary really set us up. We were thinking 260-280, but it shows what you can do if you have a platform and wickets in hand,” said Santner.
After posting 320 for five, New Zealand put the squeeze on Pakistan batters in the powerplay and the hosts could not recover from there to end at 260 all out
After the score we got, the first 10 overs with the ball were outstanding, the way our new-ball guys were able to smash a length. We built the run-rate pressure and were able to chip wickets throughout,” said Santner who himself got the ball to turn and ended up with three wickets.
Pakistan skipper Mohammed Rizwan said New Zealand did well to cross the 300-run mark considering how the pitch behaved.
“I think they set a very good target, we didn’t expect they would get 320. We thought around 260 when we took early wickets. The Will Young-Latham partnership was crucial.
“We tried, but they played very smartly and that’s why they got to that total. The pitch was not easy to bat early on, but Will Young and Latham’s innings were crucial,” said Rizwan.
Pakistan now find themselves in a must-win situation as they face arch-rivals India in Dubai on Sunday.