After a 3-0 thrashing in the T20I series, New Zealand have fought back hard to secure a comfortable win in the first ODI against Pakistan courtesy of a brilliant knock by Ross Taylor and a phenomenal hattrick by Trent Boult.
The Kiwis won the toss and opted to bat first in Abu Dhabi. Opener George Worker was dismissed by Shafeen Afridi while Collin Munro (29) played a yet another short cameo.
After the dismissal of skipper Kane Williamson, the dependable Ross Taylor built a solid 130-run partnership with Tom Latham and put New Zealand on top. However, Taylor missed his well deserved hundred after Imad Wasim knocked down his stumps.
In the dying overs, Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi played cameos which helped the visitors to score a healthy score of 266 runs in their 50 overs. Shaheen Afridi and Shadab Khan equally contributed well for Pakistan as they both picked up 4 wickets.
But who knew that Trent Boult will bowl even better and stun the crowd in Abu Dhabi with his hattrick. In his first over and the second over of the game Boult dismissed the in form Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez along with opener Fakhar Zaman.
With 3 wickets down for only 8 runs and then losing 6 wickets with only 85 runs on the board, Pakistan were falling all apart. But skipper Sarfraz Ahmed gave some hopes to the hosts with his knock of 64 runs along with Imad Wasim who supported the skipper well and reached to his fifty.
