The ODI series between Pakistan and New Zealand continues on Wednesday when the two nations head to Karachi for the remainder of the tour. The third ODI offers the home side the chance to take the series with two matches to spare.
It has been evidently clear that the focus for New Zealand lies elsewhere than this series but they are a proud bunch and will want to drag the competitiveness of these matches out as long as possible, so they will want a win too.
Pakistan
You wouldn’t necessarily say that 50 over cricket is the forte of the Pakistan side but with a World Cup in just over five months in the land of their arch rivals they will be determined to head into that tournament in a good groove in the ODI format. Holes will be picked over what they beat in this series but you can only beat what is in front of you and so far Pakistan have won both matches with a dominance and in convincing fashion.
Pakistan won both matches chasing fairly sizeable totals down. There are two parts to that. The pitches that were being used were belters for batting and it is with the ball that New Zealand are the lightest in this series but scoreboard pressure is a thing and Pakistan dealt with it well. I would imagine at some point in the last three games Pakistan will want to see how they go when setting a score and then we might find out a little more about their form.
New Zealand
When you look at the calibre of players that New Zealand are without for this tour, not to mention the sheer volume of numbers, the main aim would have been to be competitive for as long as they could be. With that in mind, they have ticked the boxes in the opening two ODIs. The other thing about this series is it presents a wonderful chance for the Kiwi fringe and second string players to make their case ahead of the World Cup.
New Zealand were always going to be under pressure with the bat in this series. They have the batters to cope with that pressure but they go into each match probably knowing that they need more than normal in terms of volume of runs because of the light look to their bowling. You would imagine the best chance New Zealand have of winning the remaining three matches is if they can chase a score but gradually as their bowlers get used to the conditions one or two might surprise.
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Team News
Mohammad Nawaz and Usama Mir were both expensive in the second match of the series so if Pakistan wanted to change a winning side it might be that one of those two sit out to allow for the return of Shaheen Shah Afridi.
New Zealand haven’t really got anything going with the ball just yet in this series so you would imagine there will be changes to the bowling unit for this match. Blair Tickner and Adam Milne are options.
Betting
The Karachi National Stadium isn’t necessarily the highest scoring ground in this part of the world but despite that I am still expecting plenty of runs in this match. I say that because the New Zealand bowling attack is missing so many main components that they are if not cannon fodder very much on the back foot when it comes to bowling in these conditions against this team. Three matches are to be played on this ground so you would imagine the wicket will play as well as it will in this match.
The other reason why I like the idea of runs in this match is because the New Zealand batting hasn’t really been impacted too badly and they have gone well in the series so far. This isn’t the biggest ground known to man either which should also help with the run scoring. The line is fairly high at 586.5 but it was covered in the last match and on a good pitch the runs should flow. Pakistan haven’t batted first in the series yet but if they do a big score is in their range but even with New Zealand batting first I’m not convinced this line is high enough.
Tips
Back Over 586.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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