Following story was posted prior to the beginning of 1st T20 between Pakistan and New Zealand at Wellington on January 22, 2018.
Probably the change of format may turn the table in Pakistan’s favour which currently stand at 2nd place in ICC T20I Rankings; however, their battle is against the recent hegemon New Zealand.
But the scenario looks even further intimidating due to the fact that New Zealand are occupying the top position in T20I Rankings followed by Pakistan.
Having the Home advantage and Pakistan being completely suppressed in recent bilateral encounters, New Zealand’s another series triumph could not be ruled out against the visitors.
Like the ODIs, Pakistan still enjoy better record in T20Is as compared to New Zealand which had to taste defeat eight times against the former in 15 T20Is, the two sides have played so far.
However last three T20Is were won by New Zealand against Pakistan including World T20 match held at Chandigarh on March 22, 2016.
Now the two teams will meet again for the first T20I of three-match series at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Monday.
Prior to this, they have played just one T20I at Westpac Stadium on January 22, 2016 in which New Zealand emerged victorious by 95 runs.
For three-match T20 series, Pakistan have brought Ahmed Shehzad as replacement of Azhar Ali, and after injured Shoaib Malik has been ruled out of the series, in-form Haris Sohail will mostly likely to be given the chance in all three remaining matches of the Tour.
Pakistan 1st T20I Squad
Fakhar Zaman, Umar Yamin, Muhammad Nawaz, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed (Captain & Wicket Keeper), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Rumman Raees, Muhammad Amir.
New Zealand 1st T20I Squad
Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Glenn Phillips (Wicket Keeper), Tom Bruce, Ross Taylor, Anaru Kitchen, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee (Captain), Ish Sodhi, Seth Rance.
Earlier, New Zealand whitewashed Pakistan in five-match ODI series, and widened their winning streak to 11 matches in 50-over format.
