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Barbados: Ian Butler (3-19) took wicket of the last ball to help New Zealand beat Pakistan by 1 run in the must-win Super Eights match as the semifinal race heats up at the Twenty20 World Cup on Saturday.
Chasing a modest 134-run target, Pakistan lost half their side for 58 runs in 9.4 overs and at that point were looking to go down without a fight.
Salman Butt (67 not out) scored his second T20I fifty but failed to take Pakistan home. Butt slammed eight fours and a six in his patient 54-ball knock and added 53 runs with all-rounder Abdul Razzaq (29) for the sixth wicket to resurrect the defending champions innings.
Spinner Nathan McCullum ended the partnership when he dismissed Razzaq in the 18th over to leave Pakistan to score 22 runs off the last two overs and eventually 11 from the last one.
Pakistan lost skipper Shahid Afridi (11) and senior pro Misbah-ul-Haq (3) in quick succession. Pacer Ian Butler took their wickets in his successive overs to reduce Pakistan to 58/5 in 9.4 overs.
Pakistan lost Umar Akmal (0), Mohammad Hafeez (8) and Kamran Akmal (5) within nine balls to hand over early advantage to their opponents after bowlers restricted Kiwis for 133/7.
Kyle Mills dismissed Umar in the fourth over, two balls after Shane Bond scalped the wicket of Hafeez in the last over.
Mills started the Pakistan downfall when he dismissed Kamran early in the second over of the innings.
Earlier, Pakistan bowlers bowled superbly to restrict New Zealand to 133/7 in the must-win Super Eights match of the Twenty20 World Cup.
New Zealand lost wickets at regular intervals as Pakistani fielders took their catches and bowlers bowled a tight line today.
Skipper Shahid Afridi (2-29), Mohammad Sami (2-25) and Abdur Rehman (2-19) took two Kiwi wickets each and kept their opponents in check in their whole innings.
For New Zealand, skipper Daniel Vettori (38) top-scored for the team as he hit a four and two sixes in his 34-ball inning.
New Zealand lost Ross Taylor (3) and Brendon McCullum (33) in successive overs.
Pakistan pacer Mohammad Sami struck again in the tenth over to get rid of Taylor just after spinner Abdur Rehman took the prized wicket of opener McCullum in the previous over.
McCullum took 29 balls to score his 33, hitting five boundaries in the process.
Kiwis lost Martin Guptill (2) in the seventh over to Rehman as they are reduced to 41/2 in 6.1 overs. Sami gave Pakistan their first breakthrough when he dismissed Jesse Ryder (7) in the fourth over.
Earlier, Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi won the toss and decided to field against New Zealand on Saturday.
Both the teams are coming off losses in their opening Super Eights matches and are desperate to bring their campaign back on track. While New Zealand were handed their first defeat of the tournament by title favourites South Africa, Pakistan were upstaged by England.
Both the teams are grappling with identical problems. The batting line-ups of both the sides are brittle and rely too much on a few power-hitters, who cannot be expected to deliver in every game.
Here to defend their crown with a new-look team after some prominent names were banned for indiscipline, Pakistan have lived up to their reputation of being consistently inconsistent.
New Zealand, meanwhile, have their own problems to deal with. Both their wins in the preliminary stage were close and their bowling has been a letdown in the death overs especially.
Brief scores
New Zealand 133 for 7 (Vettori 38, B McCullum 33)
Pakistan 132 for 7 (Salman Butt 67*, Butler 3-19)
Result New Zealand won by one run
MOM Ian Butler (New Zealand)
