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On Friday, the Kiwis will kick off their historic limited-overs tour with the first of three ODIs in Rawalpindi. The opening one-dayer will mark the beginning of New Zealand’s eight-match trip to Pakistan, their first to the Asian country since 2002.
The Blackcaps will take on their mercurial rivals in three ODIs and five T20Is. The ODIs were initially part of the ongoing ICC Super League cycle, but then the unavailability of DRS forced both the teams to mutually agree over a status change.
The games could’ve been counted towards the 2023 World Cup qualification even without the DRS. However, it is learnt that the Kiwis, who are already arriving with a second-string squad, weren’t willing to play matches of such great significance without umpire decision referrals being in use.
PCB confirmed that the Pakistan-New Zealand ODI series included in the Super League will now be played in the 2022-23 season when the visitors return to their shores for another bilateral trip, including two World Test Championships fixtures as well.
The five T20Is scheduled in the coming series are part of the countries’ build-up towards this year’s T20 World Cup, held in UAE and Oman from October 17.
As the ODI series is no longer one with World Cup qualification spots at stake, both Pakistan and New Zealand have got the chance to give more of their fringe players an opportunity to impress the selectors and try out different combinations.
Key Players
As always, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam will be the heart and soul of his team’s batting unit in the 50-over game. Babar has now played in 83 ODIs for Pakistan with 3,985 runs at an average of 56.92 and strike-rate of 89.57. His record includes 14 centuries and 17 half-centuries. Babar has been one of the modern-day giants when it comes to the ODI game.
In the absence of regular skipper Kane Williamson, Tom Latham will captain his side and be the linchpin of NZ’s batting, the player around whom the whole top 6 revolves just like his Pakistani counterpart. And Latham has time and again shown that he is capable of standing up as a skipper and batsman for his team. The 29-year-old left-hander has now played 102 games for his country, scoring 2,824 runs at an average of 34.02 and strike-rate of 83.72.
Mohammad Rizwan has been on an amazing rise in Pakistan cricket since replacing former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed as his country’s first-choice gloveman across formats. However, the ODI game hasn’t been Rizwan’s biggest strength. He is averaging only 28.80 with a strike-rate of 87.62 over 41 ODIs. But there is little doubt in anyone’s mind that for Pakistan to keep NZ at bay in home conditions, they’ll need their wicketkeeper-batsman to be at his best and Rizwan is very much capable of providing the goods.
Matt Henry is suddenly New Zealand’s most experienced quick on tour in the absence of star cricketers such as Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson. Henry boasts of an impressive record to his name in the 50-over version. The 29-year-old skiddy right-arm paceman has taken 98 wickets from his 55 ODIs at an average of 25.89 and economy rate of 5.29. Henry’s interesting career features as many as ten instances where he has taken four or more wickets for New Zealand.
Shaheen Afridi is now the leader of the pace pack for Pakistan despite his young age and inexperience. The undoubtedly talented left-arm paceman has been particularly important to his team’s cause in the 50-over version of the game. Shaheen, who made his debut only three years back at the age of 18, has now played 28 ODIs for his country and has taken 53 wickets to his name at an average of 24.62 and strike-rate of 5.51.
Prediction
In matches played in Pakistan previously, New Zealand have a horrible record, having won just three and lost 17 of their 20 games. Overall, if matches played in UAE over the best part of the last two decades are also included, they’ve won 17 and lost 40 of their 58 matches.
The record doesn’t give too great a reading of Kiwis’ performances against Pakistan outside of their comfort zone in home conditions. Neither it is that the visitors will be arriving on Pakistani shores with any inspiring recent result to show for their efforts after losing the T20I series 4-1 in difficult conditions in Bangladesh.
Of course, Pakistan will still do well not to take the tourists lightly. But they start the opening one-dayer and the series as favourites against their weakened opposition.
