Pakistani opener Fakhar Zaman has been nominated for the ICC Player of the Month for April. Apart from him, the other two players who got nominations are Lankan left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya and Kiwi batsman Mark Chapman. Fakhar Zaman is in great form with the bat. He scored centuries in the first two matches of the ODI series against New Zealand. In the second one-day match in Rawalpindi, he played an unbeaten innings of 180 runs off 144 balls to chase runs. Based on his innings, Pakistan won by chasing the second-highest run in their history.

Earlier, he played a key role in winning the team by playing an innings of 117 runs off 114 balls in the first ODI at the same venue. He also scored runs in the T20 series. This is why the 33-year-old batsman is in the running for April’s Player of the Month. Clunky left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya is also in the running for best of the month. Jayasuriya achieved the milestone of 50 wickets in just 7 Tests. The fastest in cricket history. Jayasuriya took 17 wickets in the 2-match Test series against Ireland at home.

Mark Chapman of New Zealand is also with Fakhar and Jayasuriya. Chapman scored a century in the final match of the five-match T20 series against Pakistan. With this victory, New Zealand was able to prevent the loss of the T20 series in Pakistan. Apart from the innings of 104 runs from 57 balls, this batsman played another innings of 71 runs from 42 balls in this series.

The Kiwis won by 7 wickets in the only ODI against Scotland on Sunday. The Kiwis touched the target of 307 runs in Edinburgh with 25 balls in hand.

Chapman played an unbeaten inning of 101 runs from 75 balls with 7 sixes and 6 fours at number four. This is the second century of the 28-year-old batsman in the career of 7 ODIs. Almost 7 years have passed between the two centuries! In 2015, he played an unbeaten inning of 124 runs on his debut. That was, of course, for his native Hong Kong. He later decided to represent New Zealand on cue from his Kiwi father.

Mitchell scored 74 runs on the way to an unbroken 175-run partnership off 131 balls with Chapman. His 62-ball innings hit 8 fours and a six. The fifty also came from the bat of Finn Allen. Another opener Martin Guptill did not get that taste for 3 runs.
The Scots capitalized on the 300, largely courtesy of Michael Lisk’s storming innings. He scored a career-best 85 off 55 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. Matthew Cross scored 53 runs off 58 balls.

Former Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer scored 22 runs on the way to an opening pair of 46 after winning the toss and batting. Another opener Michael Jones made 36 off 50 balls. Callum McLeod, Richie Berrington, and Matthew Cross could not survive. Losing 5 wickets for 107 runs, Lisk and Cross brought the team under pressure back into orbit. On the sixth wicket, two people made a pair of 92 runs.
Michael Bracewell is New Zealand’s most successful bowler with 3 wickets for 43 runs.

Allen and Guptill set the tone in the opening partnership of 78 runs in chase of big runs. Just after fifty, Allen (50 off 48 balls) was caught by left-arm spinner Hamza Tahir. Guptill scored 47 off 53 balls and was lbw by Lisk. The off-spinning all-rounder sent back Dan Cleaver in his next over as well, giving hope to the Scotland camp.

However, Chapman and Mitchell did not give any chance to the Scots. Mitchell reached his fifty off 41 balls, and Chapman took 46 balls.
At one point, when New Zealand needed 7 more runs to win, Chapman needed 5 for a century. After two consecutive doubles off Chris Soule, he reached the desired destination with a single. He also gave the last straw for the victory of the team. Chapman played a 44-ball knock of 83 in the second T20I against Scotland. He is the hero once again in this century.

Summary Score:
Scotland: 306 in 49.4 overs (Coetzer 22, Jones 36, McLeod 7, Berrington 12, Cross 53, Greaves 6, Leask 85, Watt 31, Sharif 28, Sole 3, Hamza 5*; Duffy 7.4-0-52 -3, Ferguson 10-0-77-2, Tickner 10-1-62-1, Bracewell 10-2-43-3, Santner 10-0-60-0, Mitchell 2-0-6-1)
New Zealand: 307/3 in 45.5 overs (Guptill 47, Allen 50, Cleaver 32, Chapman 101*, Mitchell 74*; Sharif 8-0-40-0, Watt 9-0-57-0, Sole 9.5 -0-68-0, Greaves 2-0-24-0, Hamza 9-0-70-1, Lisk 8-0-46-2)
Result: New Zealand won by 7 wickets
Man of the Match: Mark Chapman