Munro guides NZ to seven-wicket victory over Pakistan in T20 opener

New Delhi: Opener Colin Munro’s blistering innings ensured New Zealand continued their dominance over Pakistan as they thrashed the visitors by 7 wickets in the T20 series opener on Monday.

The southpaw struck a brilliant 49 as they chased down Pakistan’s 105 with 25 balls to spare in the clash of the world’s top two ranked T20 sides.

It was the 13^th consecutive win of the summer for New Zealand across all format, having thrashed Pakistan in ODI series and pocketing a series of Tests, ODIs and T20’s against West Indies.

Tim Southee led the New Zealand side in the T20 opener, following a minor injury to Kane Williamson.

"Obviously winning the toss on that wicket and then coming out and taking early wickets was the plan and we were able to do that. We bowled exceptionally well," said Southee who also paid tribute to Munro's role with the bat.

"It was a great knock from Colin. He likes to get on with it and I think he played mature innings and was able to hammer it home towards the end."

Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed again had to defend a woeful performance by his top-order batsmen, which also plagued them in the ODI series and believed they were well short of a competitive total.

"We're not batting well enough up the order. The new ball was swinging and bouncing, we didn't keep wickets in hand. They bowled very well with the new ball," he said.

"If we had a score of 140-150 it could have been a good match." added the 30-year-old