The left-hander smashed 13 boundaries and a six in his 117 made off 114 balls for his ninth ODI hundred as Pakistan chased down a goal of 289 in 48.3 overs.
The victory offers Pakistan a 1-0 lead within the five-match sequence.
All-rounder Daryl Mitchell additionally made a century, scoring a superb 115-ball 113 whereas opener Will Young hit 86 to information New Zealand to a difficult complete of 288-7 of their 50 overs.
It was Zaman who carried the day for the house staff, bringing Pakistan inside 34 runs of victory earlier than being lastly caught off a miscued shot.
Imam-ul-Haq (60 off 65 balls) and Zaman placed on 124 for the primary wicket by the twenty second over, negating New Zealand’s assault on a flat Pindi stadium pitch.
Once Haq, who hit 5 boundaries and a six in his fifteenth ODI fifty, was eliminated leg-before by spinner Ish Sodhi, Pakistan have been carried additional in direction of the goal by a 90-run stand between Zaman and skipper Babar Azam.
Azam fell one in need of a half-century when he edged pacer Adam Milne behind the stumps to Tom Latham. He hit three fours and a six off 46 balls.
Pakistan stuttered when Shan Masood fell for a depressing 12-ball one and Agha Salman for seven however Mohammad Rizwan ensured the chance was not wasted by hitting the profitable boundary throughout his 34-ball 42 not out.
The victory was Pakistan’s five hundredth in 949 ODIs.
“This was a team effort, we wanted to start well,” mentioned Azam. “The credit belongs to the fast bowlers for the way we restricted them in the end and then Fakhar played a solid match-winning knock.”
New Zealand skipper Latham rued his staff’s incapacity to get an early breakthrough.
“I think the score we got was about par,” mentioned Latham. “Daryl played a superb innings but we couldn’t make inroads when Pakistan batted.”
Earlier, Mitchell smashed his highest ODI rating to anchor New Zealand’s innings after they have been despatched in to bat.
Mitchell, who hit 11 fours and a six, added 102 for the second wicket with opener Young who performed a pretty 78-ball knock.
Mitchell lastly holed out to deep mid-wicket off quick bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi within the forty seventh over, enhancing on his earlier better of 100 not out in opposition to Bangladesh in 2021.
Young hit eight boundaries and two sixes earlier than being caught off spinner Shadab Khan at long-off.
Mitchell, dropped on 23 by Salman off his personal bowling, then boosted New Zealand’s innings with a stable stand of 72 with Latham (20).
But in opposition to some tight bowling, the guests managed simply 66 within the final ten overs.
Mark Chapman, who starred for New Zealand within the previous five-match Twenty20 sequence which ended 2-2, was bowled by pacer Haris Rauf after scoring 15.
(AI picture)
For Pakistan, Naseem Shah had figures of 2-29, Shaheen 2-63 and Rauf 2-65.
The remaining matches are in Rawalpindi on Saturday and in Karachi on May 3, 5 and seven.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com