PALLEKELE: While the opening round of the World T20 2012 in Sri Lanka is nearing its end, Pakistan get set to play their first match of the competition when they take on an in-form New Zealand side in their Group D encounter at Pallekele today.
The Kiwis, who won in a convincing fashion against Bangladesh, will be going all-out for a win to confirm their berth in the Super 8s while Pakistan will be hoping to start their campaign on a winning note.
Pakistan have faced New Zealand in a total of 8 Twenty20 Internationals so far. The Asian team emerged victorious in 5 games while ending up on the losing side 3 times. In World T20s, this game will the fourth time that both these teams go up against each other. Pakistan have a slight upper-hand, having won two against the Kiwis and losing one.
On current form, Pakistan have been fairly inconsistent. They lost the T20I series to England earlier in the year 2-1. They levelled a two match series held in Sri Lanka 1-1 while they defeated Australia 2-1 in the recently concluded series in the UAE. What will worry them though is that in the last match against Australia, they were bowled out for their lowest T20 score. During the warm-up games leading to the World T20 in Sri Lanka, Pakistan's performance was again inconsistent. They did well in the match against India, chasing down a tough total thanks to good batting by Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik. However, Pakistan batting was dismal in the practice game against England as they failed to chase down a sub-par target of 112. The main problem with their batting line-up is that they are very inconsistent, which has almost always been the case with this team. While they can be devastating on some days, there have also been occasions when the batting has surrendered meekly. This is something skipper Mohammad Hafeez will be looking closely at and will be expecting consistency from the likes of Nasir Jamshed, Imran Nazir, the Akmal brothers as well as the all-rounders, including himself.
Pakistan's ultimate strength is their bowlers. The top three wicket-takers in T20Is are from Pakistan. Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi form a potent bowling line-up. Ajmal is a class act and he will once again be the key in this team while the likes of Hafeez and Abdul Razzaq will also have vital roles to play. With most of the bowlers having featured in the recently concluded Sri Lanka Premier League, this gives the team an added bonus.
The Black-Caps got their campaign off to a brilliant start with a thumping win against Bangladesh. Brendon McCullum stole the show in that game as he smashed a brilliant 123 off 58 balls which helped his team post an imposing total. During that match, the likes of James Franklin and Ross Taylor also did well with the bat, giving McCullum good support. While this augers well for the team, the New Zealand batters do not have an easy task ahead. Playing the Bangladesh bowlers and going up against a quality Pakistan attack is a whole different affair and skipper Taylor will be well aware of that and he will be hoping that the batsman take the confidence from the win in the last game and also use their knowledge of the Pallekele pitch.
New Zealand's bowlers were pretty much up to the task in the match against Bangladesh with the likes of Kyle Mills and Tim Southee getting amongst the wickets. Nathan McCullum's economical outing against Bangladesh is also something that will give the off-spinner a lot of confidence going up against Pakistan. If there's something for New Zealand to worry about with their bowling line-up, it is the fact that Daniel Vettori and Jacob Oram were expensive in the last game. But considering the class of these players, the Kiwi skipper will be hoping that it was an one-off affair and will be expecting the bowlers to fire as an unit.
Upcoming milestones:
Shahid Afridi needs 199 more runs to become the first Pakistan batsman to reach 1000 runs in T20s.
Kamran Akmal needs three more dismissals to become the first player to reach 50 dismissals in T20s. He is top of the table with 47 dismissals in 41 matches.
Brendon McCullum is one match away from playing his 50th Twenty20 International. He will become only the second player after Shahid Afridi to have played 50 T20s.
Quotes:
We tried out various combinations in the warm-up matches and now we are ready for the big event. I am satisfied with the preparation of the team and we are ready for the big challenge: Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez
Pakistan are a lot more experienced than Bangladesh. They've played very well in the last 12-18 months. They've got world-class players but hopefully we can get the better of them: New Zealand captain Ross Taylor
Weather: Rain may hamper the match according to the forecast.
Teams:
New Zealand (From): Martin Guptill, James Franklin, Brendon McCullum(w), Ross Taylor(c), Rob Nicol, Kane Williamson, Jacob Oram, Daniel Vettori, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Ronnie Hira, Adam Milne, Doug Bracewell, BJ Watling
Pakistan (From): Mohammad Hafeez(c), Imran Nazir, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal(w), Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Sohail Tanvir, Saeed Ajmal, Asad Shafiq, Yasir Arafat, Abdul Razzaq, Raza Hasan