Big picture: Can Pakistan stop New Zealand’s charges?
Even against an depleted New Zealand team -Pakistan’s renewed T20i side managed to hit a new low of being bundled to 91 in the series opener. Even against a New Zealand side without the flying Glenn Phillips, Pakistan has awarded captive trapping through the two matches so far – for all ten layoffs in the first game and eight out of nine in the second.
If this new Look Pakistan page wants to keep the five -match T20i series alive in Auckland on Friday, they have to step up on all fronts and prove to the world -and perhaps to themselves -that it is not all the downfall and gloom with less than a year to go to the next T20 world championship.
Pakistan is himself an exhausted side, in the early days of learning to live without Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam in this format and without the wounded Saim Ayub. It is still early days to judge the new opening couple by Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Haris, but their inability to cope with the pace and jump in Christchurch before the poor shooting in Dunedin does not stall well.
Salman Aghas Blitzy 46 OFF 28 and KOMOS from the experienced Shadab Khan and Shaheen Shah Afridi down the order in the second game helped them to 135 for 9 in a rain-reduced 15-over-a-side game. However, the inefficiency of their bowling attacks – which has much more promise than their batting – puts to contain New Zealand batting a big questioner about who can really help them keep the series alive.
New Zealand’s openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen were devastating in both games, exemplified by Seifert Carting Afridi around 26 races in one over in the second game. Given the sunny forecast in Auckland, Pakistan will first hope that they will win the thrown as they do not have this series so far, and then try to remove the openers early to test their middle order.
New Zealand has not had much to worry about so far; Their bowlers have served as a well -to -do machine under favorable conditions, and although they put three catches down in the first match, they have held on to 18.
Pakistan will also be desperate after lifting their hopes after a forgetful home-masters trophy campaign and putting an end to their five-match’s losing series in T20is, which started in Zimbabwe last December.
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In the limelight: James Nesham and Hasan Nawaz
After last, T20i’s in the World Cup in 2024 T20 returned James Nesham back to the page in the absence of the stars in India for IPL. He only got the game in the second game, picked two wickets towards the end and scored only 5 in the hunt before pouring out. Once a game election in New Zealand’s white ball games, Nesham has fallen outside ODDs, but he’s committed to next year’s T20 World Cup. Onus stays on him to prove that form is something he can quickly turn around, especially under home conditions, as he has not scored over 40 in the format since December 2023.
Hasan Nawaz has had such a bad start to his international career as anyone could: Two ducks in two matches. It is the nature of layoffs in both games that might disappoint him and the team management when he released wild swings to abuse the ball on both occasions. The 22-year-old came into this series with races for Lions in the Pakistan Champions T20 Cup, where he finished second on Run-Scorers’ List and with the next sixths. The challenge now will be to keep your place in Pakistan XI for the remaining games and try to earn his races under more hostile conditions.
As it is a five-match series and there was a quick turn between the first two matches, New Zealand Kyle Jamieson and Tim Robinson rested to bring Ben Sears and Jimmy Neesham to the second match. They could bring Jamieson back and rest Jacob Duffy for the third game.
New Zealand (Probable): 1 Tim Seifert, 2 Finn Allen, 3 Mark Chapman, 4 Daryl Mitchell, 5 James Nesham, 6 Mitchell Hay (WK), 7 Michael Bracewell (Capt), 8 Zakary Foulkes, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Jacob Duffy/Ben Sears
Pakistan changed the mixture of their bowling attack to choose fast bowler Haris Rauf to Benpinner Abrar Ahmed for the second match. Mohammad Ali has been expensive in both matches and delicious almost 12 races in both matches. Abbas Afridi is the one option in their team if they want to replace Ali.
Pakistan (Probable): 1 Mohammad Haris (WK), 2 Hasan Nawaz, 3 Salman Agha (Capt), 4 Irfan Khan, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Khushdil Shah, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Jahandad Khan, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Abrar Ahmed, 11 Mohammad Ali
Although New Zealand bowled in the first two matches and won both, the last four games (with a draw between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2023) in Auckland won by teams that first battled. Eden Park is generally known as a high-scoring soil and without rain predicted for Friday, and temperatures that are expected to dip below 20 degrees at night, the amount should be entertained for a full 40 overs.
