Passion and controversy came to the fore in the first ODI between Pakistan and New Zealand on Wednesday and we can expect another tasty tussle when the two sides meet in the second match of the series in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
New Zealand came out on top in the match so they know that they can seal the series if they back up their success with another. Pakistan head into the match safe in the knowledge that another series will go away from them if they lose.
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Pakistan
It was a performance that we were not used to from Pakistan on Wednesday. They sort of went into their shell after the controversy surrounding Mohammad Hafeez’s bowling had taken place and after that, at no point were you sat there thinking that Pakistan were going to come out on top in the match. In the end their feel to a pretty tame loss and they will be out to make up for that here.
Pakistan allowed New Zealand to get away from them in the middle overs which is unlike them so they will look to perform better in those moments here. They will hope their top order can provide more resistance to the new ball as well as they often have a long tail do Pakistan. If they can lay a better platform there is no reason why they can’t square off the series.
New Zealand
It wasn’t an absolutely perfect performance from New Zealand in the first ODI but it was a much better effort than they produced in the T20s and the beauty of it is they won and there is still more to come from them. They faded away a little with the bat at the time that they were set up to push on and there is more to come from their top order.
That is a really good place for them to be in because their bowling attack has already hit the ground running in the series. There is no weakness in the Kiwis attack these days so if they ever click with the bat completely then whoever New Zealand need to watch out. That applies both in the remainder of this series and right the way through to the World Cup.
Team News
Given how their batting struggled in the first match it would not be a surprise to see Faheem Ashraf come back into the side. Hasan Ali or Junaid Khan could make way for him. Mohammad Hafeez is set to play despite the controversy surrounding him in the first match.
New Zealand might not have been perfect in the first match but they were good enough to get the job done and unless they want to rotate their seamers and keep them fresh for the large amount of cricket to come.
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Betting
Based on what we saw of the two sides in the first ODI I think I need to be on New Zealand in this match. They won very easily in that first game and there is a whole lot more to come from them in this one given the number of big players who didn’t produce what they can in that first game.
Pakistan look to have many more issues in this format of the game than New Zealand and we’re seeing in series all around the world how big that can be. 50 overs might not be a huge amount of time but your shortcomings can be found out in it. We saw that happen to Pakistan in the opening game and at 6/5 I’ll take the Kiwis to expose them once again.
Tips
Back New Zealand to beat Pakistan for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
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