Pakistan vs New Zealand, 4th ODI at Karachi, PAK v NZ, May 05 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Hope to see you again for the final ODI on Sunday. For now, on behalf of Shashwat Kumar, Binoy George, and Sudeep Poojari, I'm Rvel Zahid signing off. Good night and good bye!

A clinical win has lifted Pakistan to the top of the ICC ODI Rankings. It was a sensational all-round performance from the home side. The gulf between the sides grew as the series progressed. New Zealand showed flashes of what they are capable of but ultimately couldn't hold it together and keep the asking rate in check. They found it tough to hit boundaries against a well-oiled bowling unit. Latham and Chapman carried out some rebuilding work in the middle phase but timely strikes from Usama Mir and Mohammad Wasim Jnr made life onerous for the pair. Earlier, Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf bowled with typical hostility with the new ball and later Shaheen came back to snare New Zealand's skipper with a jaffa. The tourists will be looking for a consolation win on Sunday

Tom Latham, New Zealand Captain: "I think they played really well. They were able to set a platform despite losing wickets. Credit to the way they played, Babar played fantastically. It was about giving guys exposure and about understanding the conditions. It would have been nice to take the game deeper. We are trying to build partnerships and needed someone to bat through tonight, however, a big partnership was missing. We got one more opportunity to put a performance on the board."

Babar Azam, Pakistan Captain: "Credit goes to the entire team and support staff for becoming the No.1 ranked ODI team. We build the momentum and worked towards this goal. Everybody put in the effort and stuck together in difficult times. I think my journey has been good, I joined the camp on this very day nine years ago, and there have been ups and down, but the support from my family, PCB and above all my teammates has been amazing....when we started our innings, the wicket played well, I and Shan planned to build the innings. We felt it was 300 plus wicket, if you build a partnership you can get to that total but we lost a few wickets in the middle phase and then had to regroup. However, the way Shaheen batted, we got more runs than we expected. We planned that we will test our bench strength in this series and play with different combinations. We wanted to give a proper run to everybody and since there are big events coming up, we are happy to find 15-16 players for the (showpiece events)."

Afeef: "NZ could've brought back players like Guptill and Munro for this series as they are not busy with the IPL"

Zakir: "Amazed to see Pakistan team as ranked number 1 in ODI for the very first time "

Affan: "Fastest to 5000 runs. Scored his 18th ODI century. The No.1 batter. Took his team to No.1 as well (probably was feeling bored staying at the top all by himself, so he took the team with him). And of course, he gets the MoM. This is Babar's era"

Afrasiab Ahmed : "This day 5th May is to be remembered for ever in history of cricket, as on 5 May 2014 Babar got selected for Pakistan Camp and on 5 May 2023 he became the first ever batter to achieve 5000 mark in less than 100 innings I.e. 97."

Ezad Atta: "Wife and daughter watching some Korean Soap on Netflix so cricinfo is a life saver for me right now."

Yasser Mirza : "Rvel Zahid, I am watching the match on TV but keeping the Cricinfo on for your commentary. Cricinfo is a Love " Glad, you're enjoying our coverage!