Pakistan chose to bowl vs New Zealand
Shaheen Afridi, the new captain of Pakistan’s Twenty20 International team, made the decision to put New Zealand in the first position for the inaugural T20I match, which took place on Friday at Eden Park.
The loss of Mitchell Santner, who was ruled out of the series opener after testing positive for Covid, has been a disappointing setback for New Zealand. Santner’s absence has been a late blow. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) made the announcement that Santner had secluded himself in his hotel room and will go to Hamilton, where the second Twenty20 International (T20I) will be played, on his own. The result is that New Zealand will have a tail that is little longer than usual, with Ben Sears coming into the side and Adam Milne batting at seven at.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has broken up the opening duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, with Babar going down to three. Mohammad Rizwan has also been split up. Both the fast bowler Abbas Afridi and the legspinner Usama Mir have made their debuts for the team. Fakhar Zaman has been reduced to four, while Azam Khan has been reinstated to the team as the chosen wicketkeeper. Azam Khan had previously participated in a T20I in March of the previous year.
New Zealand:
Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Kane Williamson (capt), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Matthew Henry, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears
Pakistan:
Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (wk), Aamir Jamal, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi (capt), Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf
