The T20 series between New Zealand and Pakistan continues on Tuesday when the two teams head to Dunedin for game two of the five with the home side looking to go two up with three to play while the tourists will be looking to level up proceedings.
New Zealand dominated the opening game and will be eyeing up a similar performance here while Pakistan will know they have to be a whole lot better than they were in that first game if they are to be competitive in this one.
New Zealand
Even though they don’t have their first-choice squad out with them, New Zealand would have been confident of being slightly more than competitive given that they are in home conditions. I don’t think they would have been expecting to have demolished Pakistan in the fashion that they did though. They certainly won a good toss to win but you still have to capitalise on that and within four overs with the ball they had the job done and from there it was a case of keeping their foot on the throat.
We probably didn’t find out too much about New Zealand when they are under pressure in that opening game and it might be that we get more of an idea during this one but the one thing we did see is that despite some big players missing, those who have been selected were ready to go right from the off. It will be hard to be as emphatic in their performance as they were in the first game but their task will be to get as close to that as possible over the final four matches.
Pakistan
This was another new era beginning for Pakistan in the opening game and we got talk of going hard and getting after the bowling and everything you would expect from a modern T20 side, particularly at international level. They quickly found out the hard way that talking the talk is easy to do but walking the walk is a different story entirely and while they should be praised for the outlook that they want to adopt, they will certainly know now, if they didn’t already, that brains have to be applied to the situation too.
Pakistan will need to bat much better in this match than they did in the opening game. They might be assisted in that given that it would be a surprise if this pitch has the pace and particularly bounce that the Christchurch one had in it. The other thing you would expect from Pakistan is a stronger outlook with the ball. They have brought a strong artillery over with them but chose to rest some of their heavy hitters but the time for that might have been and gone.
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Team News
Given how emphatic their win was in the opening match, it would be a surprise if New Zealand make any changes here unless they are carrying an injury with what is a fairly short turnaround. Ben Sears and Jimmy Neesham are waiting in the wings.
When you consider how badly Pakistan were beaten in the first game, even though a number of their side probably needed a run out in those conditions and could come on for the run, it would be a surprise if Pakistan don’t panic and make changes. Haris Rauf is an option to come in.
Betting
I was hoping that the shambles of a batting showing that Pakistan put together in the first game would drop the total runs line for this match significantly. It hasn’t really happened but the line of 310.5 is low enough for me to get involved. I would be incredibly surprised if Pakistan fluff their lines to that extent once again here, both because I don’t think there will as much bounce in this pitch as there was in Christchurch and also because they have had a run out in New Zealand and should improve for the run.
The University Oval is a high scoring ground. New Zealand have played three matches here and have put up scores of 219/7 and 224/7 when batting first while they reached a target of 142 in the other match inside 15 overs so if the home side bat first you would imagine they will take a significant chunk out of this total. I would expect Pakistan to bat much better here both in technique and mentality and if they can get the early overs away we should sail past this 310.5 target.
Tips
Back Over 310.5 runs for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
