Hosts Pakistan completely dominated Australia in the recently concluded 3-match T20I series in UAE which they won 3-0. More than the series result, it’s the effort they put in all three departments that will please them more. They are now getting ready to host New Zealand for another 3-match T20I series starting from Wednesday (Oct 31).
After a 7-month hibernation period, New Zealand are finally getting an international game! Yes, you heardit right! New Zealand’s last international assignment was a 2-match Test series against England in March 2018 which they won by a margin of 1-0. Their last T20I game was against Australia in February 2018. It would be interesting to see how the Blackcaps perform in this three match series against Pakistan after a long break!
Here is a comforting stat for the hosts – ‘Pakistan won the 3-match T20I series last time when they played against New Zealand’. It was a series in New Zealand in January earlier this year which Pakistan won comfortably by a margin of 2-1. Under the leadership of Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan are looking confident enough to beat New Zealand in this upcoming series as well.
Head to Head record in T20Is
Pakistan have been the dominant partner among these two teams in this shortest format of the game. New Zealand are not too much behind either but their only T20I victory in UAE came in 2014. Pakistan won 10 out of 18 T20I games played against New Zealand till date.
- Overall: Played – 18, Pakistan won – 10, New Zealand won – 8
- In UAE: Played – 4, Pakistan won – 3, New Zealand – 1
Where and When?
The first T20I match of the three match series will be played at Abu Dhabi on Oct 31 and the teams will move to Dubai to play the remaining two T20Is on Nov 02nd and Nov 04th. All the three T20Is of the series are scheduled to start at 09:30 pm IST on the corresponding days.
Pakistan:
The hosts named an unchanged squad that recently whitewashed Australia in the three match T20I series. Considering Fakhar Zaman’s poor batting record in Asia, Pakistan in the first game against NZ will look to open the innings with Babar Azam and Shahibzada Farhan like they did in the final T20I against Australia.
New Zealand:
New Zealand dealt an early blow as their opener Martin Guptill was ruled out of the series with a calf-injury. Corey Anderson is the player to watch out for in this squad who is coming after a long time after recovering from injuries. Kane Williamson had a great IPL 2018 season with the bat and any cricket fan would love to watch him bat in these conditions similar to India.
Squad: Kane Williamson (c), Mark Chapman, Colin de Grandhomme, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson, Glenn Phillips (wk), Ajaz Patel.
Keep reading ReadScoops.com for similar updates on New Zealand’s tour of UAE.
