The opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy takes place in Karachi on Wednesday when the host nation Pakistan begin the defence of their title in the first game in Group A when they face familiar foes in New Zealand.
These two sides did battle in the Pakistan Tri-series on two occasions last week with the Kiwis coming out on top. This match matters more than either of those however so it will be interesting to see if the form remains the same or if there is a sting in the tail.
Pakistan
You always wonder what you are going to get from Pakistan and we kind of saw both sides of them at times last week in that Tri-series, however when their batting was good it was very good, as it was in South Africa just prior to Christmas too to be fair. I think it is fair to say that their bowling unit has struggled to maintain the pressure on sides throughout the 50 overs but if they can take early wickets and get control of the situation it will certainly help.
One thing Pakistan are going to have to do here is bat well. They seem to be struggling for the right combination both in the make up of their XI and also the personnel with the bat. If they do bat well then they have the bowlers in their side that can get the job done when they are on a going day. Sometimes under pressure the Pakistan fielding can go missing and in a group where they only have three matches and one of those is against India, they certainly can’t afford that to happen here.
New Zealand
If a team needed a confidence boost heading into the tournament then New Zealand certainly earned it when they ran out winners of the Tri-series in this part of the world last week. New Zealand are generally a very good ODI side because they have all the right combinations throughout the innings with the bat and the ball. You could argue that these conditions wouldn’t be their optimum but they put that to bed with their three displays last week.
The one concern going into the tournament for New Zealand is that they might be starting to run out of bowlers. They were light on bowling in the Tri-series last week but they didn’t let it get to them but you do wonder how many more injuries they can cope with. The positive is that they have no shortage of batting depth and we have seen in this part of the world that the ability to go hard throughout the innings is a huge thing.
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Team News
Haris Rauf missed the majority of the recent Tri-series in this part of the world last week but the talk is that he has recovered from the side strain he suffered and will be fit to take his place in the side here. Babar Azam is under pressure but is set to open again.
New Zealand are without Lockie Ferguson who has been ruled out of the tournament. Kyle Jamieson has been called up as his replacement but he isn’t expected in Pakistan for this match. Rachin Ravindra has been in the nets and looks set to be available.
Betting
New Zealand beat Pakistan with a fair bit to spare in the Tri-series on two occasions last week and there is nothing to suggest that they can’t complete the hat trick here. Lockie Ferguson didn’t play in the Tri-series so his absence won’t make a difference from those matches and although Ben Sears played in two of the three games, he bowled 16 overs and failed to take a wicket and went for 104 runs so it might be a bit of a blessing in disguise that he isn’t here.
Pakistan showed their hand last week and although Haris Rauf is still to come back in, he does the best of his work at the end of the bowling innings and based on those two games last week there is no guarantee that this one gets there. The huge thing here is I think New Zealand have the more reliable batting unit. It is deeper and probably better man for man too and they have enough with the ball to get the job done. After the games last week I’m amazed New Zealand are the outsiders here but I’ll side with them.
Tips
Back New Zealand to beat Pakistan for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Coral
