New Zealand won the fifth and final T20I against Pakistan on Monday despite reeling at 2-1 before this game. It was Mark Chapman’s century that made the difference as it helped Blackcaps win the match by six wickets to draw the series 2-2. Despite missing eight of their star players, the Kiwis outplayed the Pakistan side. Grant Bradburn, Pakistan’s head coach was disappointed after the game and said that they have to improve as the Asia Cup and World Cup are coming.
“Mickey [Arthur] and I have already addressed the team a number of times, we’ve inspired them and galvanised them into believing we have the group. But as I said before, we have a team of champions, we don’t have a champion team as of yet. And that’s what we’re looking to build,” Bradburn told Geo News.
“We’ve allowed the realisation or the acceptance from our boys, that we’re not the team where they want to be as yet, if we want to contest and win the World Cup, we want to go to number one, every format of the game, our game is going to have to lift, our players are going to have to lift [themselves].
“As we have played over the last year, particularly in this format, it’s got us to third in the world. It’s got us to two finals, we are not where we want to be. And therefore, you know we are going to bring some subtle changes, some subtle demands.”
Chasing a total of 194, Chapman played the knock of his life and scored 57-ball 104 not out. Jimmy Neesham also made 45 runs and stun Pakistan in the fifth and final T20 match on Monday.
“We’re going to support the players with clarity, but we’re also going to demand them to lift themselves and get better. If we bring the game that is been successful for us over the last two or three years, we will come second and we will go backwards we have to understand what brand of the game we need to play in Asia Cup and World Cup. And we need to adapt to that very quickly,” the coach said.
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