Pakistan finally turned up in their battle with New Zealand on Thursday when they produced a wonderful performance to level the T20 series in Auckland and on Sunday they get the chance to take down the series when the teams meet for the third and final time in Mount Maunganui.
It is not just the series that Pakistan have the chance to take. A win in this decider will see them claim the number one spot in the format. New Zealand will be eager to have all of their hard work undone so this finale should be extremely competitive.
New Zealand
It has not been very often in this summer of theirs that New Zealand have completely failed to show up but that was the case in Auckland and we will find out a little more about what they are as a team in this match. That game was the first time all summer they have been under pressure so it was a concern that they could not handle it.
New Zealand wilted with both the bat and the ball in Auckland so they will need to keep strong for this match and make sure that was a blip rather than reproduce the same ordinary stuff and compound the misery. There is a lot of cricket to be played in this summer yet so they will not want successive defeats.
Pakistan
It will also be interesting to see how Pakistan go in this match too. They have finally performed and got a well-deserved win but the key now is not to get too giddy and carried away. They did to do the things that they did well in the Auckland game to have any chance of winning this one but a repeat of that performance will see them go close.
The key to the victory in the previous match for Pakistan was how their opening pair batted. It wasn’t just that Ahmed Shehzad came into the side. They played straight. They gave themselves a few balls to get in and then they began their assault rather than kamikaze and reckless cricket right from the outset.
Team News
New Zealand will be without Colin Munro for this match as he has picked up an injury. Glenn Phillips has been sent back to his franchise. Ross Taylor has been recalled and Tim Southee is back in the side for this one.
Pakistan may well go in with an unchanged side having finally got themselves over the line in the previous match. If they do make a change it could be to bring another spinner into the side.
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Betting
Finally Pakistan have turned up in the series and hopefully they can do so again here. If they do then we should be set for a really good finale to the series. If they do then this one could go either way too so I’m going to head to the side markets for a bet.
I like the boundaries in this match. I say that because scores here are generally on the high side and the field is exposed so the wind often plays a part in getting balls to the boundary. The line here is 36.5 which is actually quite low. There were 46 here in the last match against the West Indies and the tourists only made 124 in that match. Prior to that we’ve had 45, 37 and 42 boundaries here. Both teams were in good form with the bat in Auckland and if that carries over here we’ll get 37 boundaries.
Tips
WON – Back Over 36.5 boundaries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
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