New Zealand won the second one-day international by79 runs

The second One Day International was won by New Zealand by 79 runs, levelling the three-match series at 1-1. New Zealand’s spinners choked Pakistan on a turning wicket.

Devon Conway hit a brilliant 101 and captain Kane Williamson scored 85 before New Zealand lost nine wickets for 78 runs and were bowled out for 261 against Mohammad Nawaz’s (4-38) leftarm spin and Naseem Shah’s fast bowling (3-58).

The second One Day International was won by New Zealand by 79 runs, levelling the three-match series at 1-1. New Zealand’s spinners choked Pakistan on a turning wicket.

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In order to dismiss the home team for 182 in 43 overs, Williamson expertly outmanoeuvred Pakistan on the wicket and added additional spinner Ish Sodhi in place of fast Henry Shipley.

Before Sodhi (2-38) put an end to the match by having captain Babar Azam stumped with some deft glove work from Tom Latham behind the wicket and No. 11 Haris Rauf hole out at long off without scoring, Babar Azam fought valiantly for his 79 off 114 balls.

“We had Ish Sodhi, who has been bowling exceptionally well,” Williamson explained. “We knew it would be a difficult chase. We knew we had to get a little bit out of the surface… and ended up with a par total.”

Pakistan won the first match by six wickets, and the teams will meet again on Friday at the same venue in the series finale.

“It was turning sharply when the spinners came on,” Babar said. “The pitch in Karachi is always better in the second innings, but it played differently today, and the spinners got a lot more assistance.”

Naseem earlier gave Pakistan the perfect start by getting Finn Allen out of the game in his first over. However, Pakistan’s fielders missed a number of opportunities as Conway and Williamson displayed significant aggression against pace and spin.

When Conway was on 29, Nawaz dropped a difficult return catch. Williamson was dropped twice in the space of four deliveries from Mohammad Wasim, the first when Haris Sohail couldn’t hold on to a sharp catch over his head at short midwicket and the second when Mohammad Rizwan dropped a low catch down the leg side as the ball brushed Williamson’s gloves.

Both batters improved New Zealand’s previous best second wicket-stand of 159 against Pakistan in an ODI shared by Williamson and Martin Guptill at Auckland in 2016. Conway accelerated more after reaching his half century off 57 balls and needed an additional 32 balls to raise his century.

But after Naseem returned, Pakistan fought back strongly through Nawaz, and in the 30th over, he clean bowled Conway with a ball that moved just enough to knock back the lefthander’s off stump.

Nawaz dismissed Daryl Mithcell, Latham, Glenn Phillips, and also knocked back the top of Williamson’s stumps in his final five overs, conceding just 14 runs and claiming four wickets. Mitchell Santner contributed 37 runs off 42 balls to help New Zealand cross the 250-run mark before being run out off the penultimate ball.

After losing Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq to Tim Southee and the pace of Lockie Ferguson for just nine runs (Imam was defeated by a 152 kph short-pitched ball and was caught off a top-edge), Pakistan was unable to recover.

Michael Bracewell (1-29) and Santner (1-34) of New Zealand then provided plenty of assistance off the wicket, preventing even the experienced Babar from scoring freely before Pakistan were bowled out with seven overs to spare.