Big picture: Second chance for Pakistan
In the absence of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, who have been dropped, and Saim Ayub, who is still recovering from an ankle injury, Pakistan handed Hasan Nawaz a debut and opened with Mohammad Haris, who was playing a T20I after almost two years, with Salman slotting in at No. 3. Despite attempts to go big from the get-go, seven of Pakistan’s batters fell for single-digit scores with Khushdil Shah top-scoring with 32 off 30 balls. How will Pakistan go in the second match after the failure in the first?
Though New Zealand are missing key players due to their IPL commitments, they landed early punches with the ball in the first match, thanks to Kyle Jamieson and Jacob Duffy, who shared seven wickets between them by the end. Tim Seifert, Finn Allen and Tim Robinson then tore apart Pakistan’s attack.
As they build their reserves, New Zealand will also look to continue their domination. And Jimmy Neesham, who hasn’t played for New Zealand since June 2024, might have to wait his turn.
Form guide
New Zealand WLWWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
Pakistan LLLLW
In the spotlight: Jacob Duffy and Salman Agha
Team news
New Zealand are unlikely to tinker with the winning combination and are likely to go with Kyle Jamieson, Jacob Duffy and Zakary Foulkes in the pace department and Ish Sodhi and captain Michael Bracewell as spinners.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Tim Seifert, 2 Finn Allen, 3 Tim Robinson, 4 Mark Chapman, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Mitchell Hay (wk), 7 Michael Bracewell (capt), 8 Zakary Foulkes, 9 Ish Sodhi, 10 Kyle Jamieson, 11 Jacob Duffy
Pakistan handed a debut to fast bowler Mohammed Ali and asked him to open the bowling with Shaheen Afridi. This meant Haris Rauf didn’t feature in the first game. Ali bowled three overs and conceded 25 runs. Since it’s a five-match series, Pakistan will want to give a few more opportunities to Ali before bringing in the experienced Rauf.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammad Haris (wk), 2 Hasan Nawaz, 3 Salman Agha (capt), 4 Irfan Khan, 5 Shadab Khan, 6 Khushdil Shah, 7 Abdul Samad, 8 Jahandad Khan, 9 Shaheen Afridi, 10 Abrar Ahmed, 11 Mohammed Ali
Pitch and conditions
The University Oval in Dunedin has hosted three men’s T20Is so far. The last was played in January 2024, when Finn Allen’s 137 led New Zealand to 224, and they beat Pakistan by 45 runs. It has generally been a batting-friendly surface with teams scoring 9.88 runs an over at this venue in T20Is. Three out of six times, the teams have posted 200-plus totals here. The forecast on match day is for the occasional shower amid cool weather.
Stats and trivia
- Tim Seifert, who has played all three T20Is Dunedin has hosted, has an average of 56.50 at the venue.
- Since the start of 2020, New Zealand have won eight of the 12 T20Is against Pakistan at home.
Quotes
“[It’s] Definitely my home ground, lived here since I was 18, so good to be home, obviously spent a lot of time away in Pakistan four or five weeks before this series too, so I’ve only had a couple of nights since then, so it’s good to get home, get home to the dog. Looking forward to getting out to what I think is the best ground in the country.”New Zealand quick Jacob Duffy on playing in Dunedin.
Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo
