HAMILTON – New Zealand beat Pakistan by 21 runs in the second T20I in Hamilton on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Chasing a 195-run target for victory, the Green Shirts kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were all out on 173 in 19.3 overs.

Babar Azam was the highest scorer with 66 runs followed by Fakhar Zaman who made quick fire 50 runs.

Shaheen Shah Afridi chipped in with 22 runs and no other batter could enter the double figures.

Adam Milne bagged four wickets while Tim Southee. Ben Sears and Ish Sodhi took two wickets each.

Finn Allen was named player of the match for his superb half-century.

After being asked to bat first, New Zealand got off to a good start but the Green Shirts came back strongly in the second half to restrict the hosts to 194 for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Finn Allen remained the highest scorer for the Blackcaps with 74 runs. Kane Williamson went off the field due to a hamstring problem after scoring 26 runs. Mitchell Santner made 25 runs.

Haris Rauf bagged three wickets, all in his last and penultimate over of the innings. Abbas Afridi took two and Aamer Jamal and Usama Mir got one wicket each.

After the toss, Afridi said that it was a good wicket with decent ground measurements. He hoped that Abbas Afridi would continue to perform better after a good debut in Auckland. He also hoped to bring improvements in fielding.

Kane Williamson said that bowlers executed their plans well in the first match. He said that it was a different venue with different conditions.

Pakistan persisted with the same Playing XI which lost to New Zealand in the first T20I in Auckland.

Pakistan Playing XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Sain Ayub, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (WK), Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf

New Zealand made one change, Mitchell Santner replacing Matt Henry.

New Zealand Playing XI: Finn Allen, Dewon Conway, Kane Williamson ©, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Philips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears