New Zealand have the first of two chances to win the T20 series against Pakistan on Sunday when the two sides meet in the second of three in Hamilton on what promises to be another extremely competitive contest.
Pakistan looked a rusty outfit in the opening match and they will be looking for a huge improvement here as they look to force a decider later in the week. A New Zealand win here would set them up nicely to attempt another whitewash.
New Zealand
I mentioned ahead of the opening match how New Zealand are building up a nice amount of squad depth as they head towards the World T20 in India next year and there was more evidence of that on Friday when a couple of unheralded players came into the side and made a real difference. That bodes well for them for the future but in the here and now they are basically looking for a similar performance to the one they got at Eden Park.
It was with the ball that they did the most damage in Auckland. They bowled with discipline and to plans. If you were to criticise them then you could argue that from the position they had Pakistan in at 20-4, to let them get above 150 was not good but then on the flip side of that you need to remember just how small the boundaries are on that ground. It never looked like being enough runs and that is the important thing.
Pakistan
I think most people would have expected Pakistan to be more than a little rusty in that opening game and if they did they certainly wouldn’t have been surprised with what they saw. You could argue that there was a naivety to proceedings which wasn’t so good and that combination is never a good one. The positive of that heading into this match is they should have shaken off that rust so there should be a huge amount of natural improvement on show here.
If Pakistan are going to get back in this series and force a decider then they are going to have to bat a lot better than they did in Auckland. You would think that would be natural but some of that was down to the conditions and those who didn’t get much time in the middle in the first game won’t have had long to get a handle on things. If they can put up a half decent score then we saw in Auckland that they have the attack to make themselves competitive.
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Team News
New Zealand have called for the big guns to get the series over and done with. Kane Williamson, Tim Southee and Trent Boult are all set to return to the side with Mark Chapman and the hero of the first game Jacob Duffy sitting out now.
Pakistan are not blessed with options for this series so it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise in the world if they go into this match unchanged despite their defeat in the first game. If they do make a change then Iftikhar Ahmed is most likely to come in.
Betting
Although Seddon Park is not the biggest ground in the world, I still think the runs line for this match is a little on the high side at 335.5. I say that because both these bowling attacks are pretty strong and the Pakistan batting in particular doesn’t convince me that it is going to put up a massive score in this match. It is a very young line up which means that it is inexperienced in these conditions so I’m far from convinced that they will settle in and score big.
Pakistan struggled with the bat on a smaller ground than this in Auckland against a second string New Zealand bowling attack and although they’ll come on for the run they are up against a much strong bowling line up here so you would think they may well continue to struggle in that department. Pakistan are good with the ball and have bowlers hard to get away. This line just feels a little high to me so I’ll play the under.
Tips
WON – Back Under 335.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
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