Pakistan scored a brace of goals in half to beat New Zealand 4-2 int eh opening match of the 20th Azlan Shah Cup. Te Cup opener which appeared a an one-sided affair from the word go, when Pakistan amassed three goals, came alive late in the last quarter, with NZ scoring their quota of a brace of goals, but it was too less and too late.

New Zealand was done in by poor penalty corner drills, wasting both the awards at the end of first half, and then three in the second half. Only a short corner was converted by the Kiwis.

Shakeel Abbasi, the forward behind many a Pakistan move, was declared the man of the match.

It was Rizwan Sr. who set the pace for the winning side in the third minute, sending a gentle diagonal pass inside the net, which got the NZ defence in a blind. in the 24th minute, Kashif added another one before in the 51st minute ever-green Haseem Khan sent in a solo effort (3-0)

Only the second part of the second half, New Zealand showed some urgency, and came with worthwhile moves. Between five minutes from 59th minutes, they posted two goals ( 59th minute goal by Hayward Andrew and main striker, Iglo, who came a couple of times in scoring before, made amends.