New Zealand vs Pakistan, 4th T20I at Christchurch, NZ v PAK, Jan 19 2024 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That's it from our ball-by-ball coverage. Do check the match report. For now, It's goodbye from Rvel Zahid and the rest of the crew at ESPNcricinfo. Thank you for your feedback throughout the game and keep enjoying this amazing sport!

Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan Captain: I think they way Rizwan gave us the start, it was very good unfortunately we couldn't grab the opportunity in middle overs. I try to take wickets in the first over, I feel 170 was a good total on this pitch, if we grabbed our chances, we could have won this game

Mitchell Santer, New Zealand Captain: They have managed their chase extremely well like they always do, credit to Shaheen, he bowled amazingly upfront. We knew the new ball might do a little bit and that made it challenging up the top. For Phillips to come out and build a partnership like that and to finish it off we'll take that for sure. We were able claw back in the end, credit to JP and Daryl for the way they went about it, if you get used to the pace, you kind of cash in.

New Zealand register a comprehensive win after a stutter early on, as Shaheen Afridi snapped up three wickets in his opening burst. However, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips carried out great rebuilding work, navigating their way through choppy waters to emerge on top once again. Pakistan continues to struggle, facing the threat of a whitewash. Mohammad Nawaz couldn't match the quality of Mitchell Santner in the middle overs and a crucial chance was put down as well. There were far too many loose balls that released pressure at pivotal moments. Once again, Pakistan didn't get any substantial contributions from the middle order, and Mohammad Rizwan was the lone ranger who got Pakistan to a somewhat respectable score on this two-paced pitch. Considerable improvement from Pakistan in bowling, but still, plenty of gaps to fill in. They need a quality spinner in the middle overs to apply the squeeze, and the pacers need to fine-tune the execution of their change-up deliveries and yorkers. It has become a recurring issue for Pakistan to slip up from strong positions, let's see if they can get a consolation win on Sunday

Riaz Bangash : "PCB appoint Shaheen as a captain too early , Shaheen needs to groom "

Bash: "21 runs in 6.1 overs from Saim, Fakhar, Farhan and Iftikhar at run rate of 3.44 for 1/3rd of the innings tell the whole story about Pakistan batting power. No further comments"

Shoaib: "@Tariq the pitch for today's match and the one for the third match are completely different, so there is no way you can compare Finn and Rizwan's innings. The blame lies in the middle order, that's where the focus should be for Pakistan.

Dawood Mirza: "Pakistans fielding is costing them not just wickets, but confidence and morale as well. Whenever a catch goes up in the Air, the first thought by them is, I dont want to drop it, rather than, How can I catch it?"