Much-anticipated Pakistan-New Zealand T20Is commence today
The visiting New Zealand cricket team batsman Daryl Mitchell has said that Pakistan is a world class team and series against the home side will be challenging. Daryl Mitchell while talking about the tour of Paki-stan said “ I am very excited for T20 and ODI series in Pakistan and look forward to thrilling cricket.
“This tour is quite challenging for us as there are young players in our team who have never played in these conditions before”. Daryl said that the conditions here are quite different from New Zealand and the young players will learn a lot to aim for success. He said the young players have put up good performance in their recent outing against Sri Lanka.
The Kiwi player said 5 T20 and 5 ODI matches in Pakistan is long enough and his team will exhibit good quality cricket.
After witnessing a nail-biting finish in the final of the HBL Pakistan Super League 8 just a month ago, the fans in Lahore are set to be treated with what promise to be exciting contests when Pakistan take on New Zealand in the first three of the five-match T20 International series on Friday [tomorrow] at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Babar Azam-led Pakistan will play their first T20I here since October 2022, when they played England in the lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Pakistan have won 10 of the 18 matches here since 2015 and the venue has provided viewers ac-tion their money’s worth with 8.13 runs being scored per over.
For the Kiwis, it is an unchartered territory as they have never played a T20I in Pakistan. They will hope to bank on the experience of their recent tour of Karachi when they played two Tests and three One-Day Internationals across December and January and the data available to them about the venue, but playing in Gaddafi Stadium against a full-fledged Pakistan side will be a challenging ask.
Pakistan already have an upper-hand as they have defeated New Zealand four times in the last five matches, the most recent one being a convincing seven-wicket win in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Sydney. That only defeat was during the tri-series in Christchurch, which Pakistan won, just before the World Cup.
Babar Azam said on the eve of the match on Thursday : “It is a great feeling to be back in Lahore in Pakistan colours. This promises to be an exciting series as we bring the exciting young talent and the experience of senior players together in this solid squad.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan
New Zealand squad: Tom Latham (captain, wk), Chad Bowes, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver, Matt Henry, Ben Lister, Adam Milne, Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Will Young.—APP
