Pakistan begin their limited overs tour of New Zealand on Friday when the two sides meet in the first T20 in Auckland. Any chance of the tour beginning quietly were eliminated with the focus on the upcoming World T20 coming right from the off.
New Zealand have warmed up nicely for this series with two wins over Sri Lanka in this format. The first was a narrow win while the second was as emphatic as you’ll get but I think most people would expect this match to be much more competitive.
It remains to be seen what changes New Zealand make from the domination over Sri Lanka. Ish Sodhi has dropped out of the squad and Todd Astle could make a debut although whether a leggie is risked on this ground with tiny boundaries remains to be seen. There is talk that Ross Taylor could be rested.
This is Pakistan’s first match on this tour. They’ve not had a warm up game so they need to get up to speed quickly. This small ground will probably suit them because their attack won’t always be easy to get away on this track which might give them an advantage but as always with Pakistan how they fare will be determined by how they bat.
All the focus in the Pakistan team line up will centre around Mohammad Amir. He is expected to make his international return in this match. Umar Gul could return from injury and both will be pushing hard for places in the World T20 squad. Umar Akmal is available for this match which is a boost.
As with the second game against Sri Lanka last week this match takes place at Eden Park in Auckland. We all know by now this is a rugby ground so I’m expecting plenty of big hitting here, not that the hits need to be big to clear the ropes here.
I never get too involved in the match betting here purely because defending this ground is near on impossible as Sri Lanka saw the other day but luckily we don’t need to bet on the match outcome because the sixes line is a bit on the low side.
There were 16 sixes in the match here earlier in the week despite the first innings score only being 142 so that shows the potential there is in this match. While Pakistan don’t always bat brilliantly they will get some big hits away, as will New Zealand so the 14.5 line doesn’t look nearly enough on this track.
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