Play halted meaning in cricket: Why was New Zealand vs Pakistan Napier T20I halted in the first innings?

New Zealand vs Pakistan Napier T20I: The dead-rubber third T20I match was stopped due an unexpected delay at the McLean Park.

During the third T20I of the ongoing Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand in Napier, New Zealand scored 173/6 in their allotted quota of 20 overs after Pakistan captain Shadab Khan won the toss and elected to field.

While the hosts thrived on the back of blistering knocks by wicket-keeper batsman Tim Seifert (35) and batsman Glenn Phillips (31), it was Devon Conway’s second T20I half-century which kept the innings together.

Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the sixth over, Conway departed in the last over after scoring 63 (45) with the help of seven fours and a six.

As for the Pakistani bowlers, all-rounder Faheem Ashraf was the pick of the bowlers with bowling figures of 4-0-20-3. Apart from Ashraf, pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf picked a couple of wickets each but ended up being on the expensive side with conceding 43 and 44 runs respectively.

Why was New Zealand vs Pakistan Napier T20I halted in the first innings?

As was the case during the first ODI between New Zealand and India at the same venue early last year, play was halted (stopped) due to an unexpected reason. Due to an excessive sun-glare between two stands making it difficult for the players to spot the ball, players had to break for around 15 minutes before resuming play.

“For me personally, I could not spot the slower ball that he bowled,” Phillips was heard on the stump mic referring to a Haris Rauf slower delivery which he had faced right before the play got halted.

With New Zealand already winning the first two T20Is, they have already gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

How Twitterati reacted:

For more cricket-related news, click here.