Rawalpindi: Pakistan veteran Mohammad Rizwan hurt his hamstring as Mark Chapman's quickfire innings of 87 helped New Zealand level their series against the Asian side at one-game apiece.
Rizwan was forced to retire hurt on 22 as Pakistan compiled a below-par score of 178/4 in the third match of their five-game T20I series against the Kiwis in Rawalpindi and that total was never going to be enough as Chapman's unbeaten knock helped the visitors home with 10 deliveries to spare.
The extent of Rizwan's hamstring injury is yet to be revealed, although Pakistan took no risk with the experienced wicket-keeper as he retired hurt midway through his innings and took no further part in the game less than six weeks out from the start of this year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
It was left to Shadab Khan (41) and Irfan Khan (30 not out) to provide the late fireworks in Pakistan's innings, but Babar - who contributed a steady 37 at the top of the order - conceded his team fell a bit short of posting a par score after they lost the toss and were sent into bat first by New Zealand skipper Michael Bracewell, an ICC report said.
"To be honest the batting wasn't that bad. We managed to catch up later on but I think we were 10 runs short and you know Rizwan also faced a setback and got injured so a new batter had to step in but as you know it's not easy for a new batter to adjust early on," Babar said.
"However the way Shadab and Irfan set up a partnership recovered us so well. You know on this venue a par score is between 180 to 190 so I think we did well in batting," he said.
Pacers Abbas Afridi (2/27) and Naseem Shah (1/44) picked up a wicket each early in New Zealand's reply, but there were few highlights for the hosts from that point on as some sloppy bowling and a host of dropped catches in the field put pay to Pakistan's chances.
"We started quite well in the early overs but you know when you drop catches it makes a difference especially when you drop the catch of a set batter and when dropping a catch of a Mark Chapman who always plays well against us obviously he will take the match away from you in no time," Babar admitted.
"On top of that we didn't bowl according to our plan which we accept and we will make sure not to repeat the same mistake in the next games," he added.
With the five-match series locked at 1-1, the teams now head to Lahore for the final two games and the next contest scheduled to take place on Thursday.
