New Zealand were shocked by Pakistan in the first T20 of the series in Auckland on Friday and they will be looking to level the series and force a decider when the two sides meet in the second game in Hamilton on Sunday.
The Kiwis may have paid the price for being too dominant against Sri Lanka because when their bowling came under pressure in the first game they didn’t have too many answers and when they needed their middle order to come good they were exposed due to a lack of time at the crease in recent times.
Ross Taylor sat out the opening game but all the talk is he is going to return here. Mitchell Santner is the obvious player to sit out with two spinners not needed on these smaller grounds especially with Pakistan playing spin so well. Mitchell McClenaghan missed the first game with a niggle but he could return if he is fit.
Pakistan will be delighted with their first game performance. They batted well with Shahid Afridi applying the finishing touches to a solid effort and then their strong bowling attack went to work and got the job done.
Given how dominant Pakistan were in all facets in the first game it would make sense for them to keep the same side for this match. Were they to change for changes sake then Anwar Ali would be one player who might get a call up especially if one of the seamers isn’t 100%.
We’ve moved from Auckland to Hamilton where Seddon Park is the venue for this match. This will be the seventh time a T20 international has been held on this ground. New Zealand have won five of the six matches prior to this one with their only defeat coming in the face of a Richard Levi onslaught. Pakistan lost their only game here.
With it being New Zealand it almost goes without saying that the ground is small so the scoring should be high with plenty of boundaries on what is generally a good batting track.
Given the dimensions of the ground I think we’re in for another sixes laden match here. New Zealand offered seven sixes in Auckland with Guptill and Anderson missing out and Taylor not playing so they should hit more sixes and having gone well in Auckland the Pakistan batsmen should be full of confidence to go big again themselves.
The line for sixes is set at 15 but that looks pretty low to me. Granted these boundaries are a bit bigger than the ones in Auckland but there isn’t too much in it. New Zealand know they have to be on it now so I’m expecting them to bat a lot better which should see the sixes nearer to 20 than low teens.
I’m also going to take Shahid Afridi’s performance too. At 38 it is quite high for a T20 game but he bowled nicely in Auckland and we know what he can do with the bat.
He’s captain of this side now so he’ll be fielding around the bat so we can’t rule out catches so actually that 38 could be a little on the low side. He only needs an average day with bat and ball to cover that. Anything better than that could smash it.
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