We have two matches to enjoy in the ICC Cricket World Cup on Saturday and they both carry plenty of significance. The first of them sees two semi-final chasers meeting when New Zealand take on Pakistan in Bangalore.
New Zealand currently sit in the last of the semi-final spots in the but they will be joined by Pakistan should the Asian side come out on top in this match so there is more than enough on the line to suggest that this should be a cracker of a game.
New Zealand
The Kiwis began this tournament like a house on fire with four wins from their opening four games and in truth none of them were very close, they won them with plenty to spare and looked like they were going to be contenders in the competition once again. Things have slowed right up for them in their last three matches though with defeats in each of them and while they offered enough in defeat in the first two losses, they were smashed to pieces against South Africa last time out.
They made a daft decision to bowl first at the toss in that game and things gradually got worse from there. They picked up another injury along the way and are now at the stage where they are having to operate with a skeleton squad while they wait for reinforcements to arrive. New Zealand know if they win here they will take a massive step to securing their place in the semi-final but whether they have enough men on deck to win the game remains to be seen.
Pakistan
This has been a very up and down competition for Pakistan and even though they have four defeats to their name already, crazily they are still very much alive in the tournament and a win here could make them favourites to progress when you consider that their final match of the group phase is against an England side who are offering absolutely nothing at the minute. Pressurised situations are not generally where we see the best of the Pakistan side, but to their credit they pulled off a fine win over Bangladesh in a similar situation last time out.
That arrested a nasty run of four successive defeats, which followed two opening wins in the competition. Pakistan are going to have to win out to have any chance of making the semi-finals but you would think that at least one of those wins would need to be by a significant margin because their net run rate is behind those they are chasing down. Bangalore could be the best player to burn a hole into that so they will need to be aggressive here.
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Team News
New Zealand will be without Matt Henry who has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament. Kyle Jamieson has arrived in the country as a replacement and could feature. Kane Williamson, Lockie Ferguson, Jimmy Neesham and Mark Chapman face fitness tests.
Pakistan could well name an unchanged side after getting back to winning ways last time out but if there is to be a change then it could see Shabad Khan returning after missing the last game because of concussion protocol. He would come back for Usama Mir.
Betting
We might have to dodge a bit of rain over the course of the latter part of this match so that pretty much takes the match outcome out of the equation from a betting point of view until we know the outcome of the toss so we will have to head to the side markets for a punt on this one. The overall sixes would be one option given that we are in Bangalore and a 14.5 sixes line could easily be hit before any rain arrives should New Zealand bat first.
Australia hit 19 sixes against this very Pakistan attack on this ground earlier in the competition but they are probably a little more secure in the six hitting department so I’ll go with a New Zealand batter to deliver the goods for us. That is Daryl Mitchell. He is 5/6 to clear the ropes, something he has done in four of his six innings in the tournament to date and one of those where he didn’t was in Chennai where the pitches stink the place out. The other was last time out in Pune when he hit four fours before being caught on the boundary. He averages over 50 with the bat in ODIs against Pakistan with two of his five centuries in the format coming against them. In three of his seven innings against them he has hit a six. They were all in Pakistan on bigger grounds than this so a Mitchell six appeals to me.
Tips
Back D.Mitchell – Over 0.5 sixes for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
