The pressure is starting to crank up in the Cricket T20 World Cup as both groups enter the second half of their existence. That means each match from here will have significant implications on the tournament and its development.
There is just the one match on Tuesday which comes from Group 2 as New Zealand take on Pakistan. New Zealand can confirm a spot in the semi-finals with a win while Pakistan can take a giant leap towards the last four were they to pick up the win.
So far New Zealand have been flawless in this tournament. They have bowled sides into submission in spin friendly conditions and have not been shy enough to make the big decisions. If you had said to most judges before this event began that neither Trent Boult nor Tim Southee would feature in the opening two matches most would have laughed at you but that has been the case.
Pakistan blazed a brilliant trail with the bat against Bangladesh in their first match but trying the same tactics in testing conditions against India in their second one saw them found out. They need to find the right balance in their final two matches to make it into the knockout stages.
We’ve yet to see Boult and Southee in this competition but one or both could feature here with conditions in Mohali being much different to the ones in Nagpur and Dharamsala. Given that he’s the leading wicket taker in the tournament and he can bat Mitchell Santner should stay in but Ish Sodhi could miss out.
It looks like Pakistan will be forced into a couple of changes with Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz expected to be ruled out through injury. Both would be big blows. Mohammad Sami could replace Riaz unless Pakistan go with the extra spinner in which case Imad Wasim could feature. Khalid Latif is the most obvious replacement for Hafeez.
The PCA Stadium in Mohali is the venue for this match. This is the first time the ground will have hosted cricket in the tournament. Traditionally this is a high scoring ground. The only previous T20 international here saw India chase down 207 with time to spare against Sri Lanka and in the IPL the Kings XI Punjab have been involved in some huge scoring matches here.
This match has an interesting twist to it. New Zealand have struggled with the bat on tacky wickets but ridden the back of their spin bowlers which they won’t be able to do here while Pakistan have gone all guns blazing with the bat and taken the consequences. You would think the latter route is the way to go here which could make Pakistan value but whenever I think they are value they stick in a shocking performance so I’m reluctant to take them.
I do think we might get a high scoring game here though or at the very least a game with a large number of boundaries. Pakistan’s bowling attack hasn’t really looked as good as it does on paper thus far while New Zealand’s style with the bat and potential rustiness with the ball assuming Boult and Southee do come in should see the batsmen on top.
We’ve seen in Mumbai how good batting wickets still deliver high scores and this one is another of those so I’m happy to take over 38.5 boundaries in this one. I’ll take the boundaries over the sixes as the boundaries aren’t the smallest and with the boundaries we’re in the game if the likes of Williamson and Malik bat lengthy periods which is perfectly possible.
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