PAK vs NZ Match Shriram Book Prediction & Analysis
It will be the National Stadium in Karachi which will welcome the return of the ICC Champions Trophy, a tournament which we have not seen since 2017, as well as Pakistan hosting a major cricket competition for the first time since the 1996 World Cup!
New Zealand were the dominant side earlier this month in the Pakistan Tri-Nation Series, defeating the hosts twice on their way to lifting the trophy on Sunday and they will be considered as a team to watch in this edition of the Champions Trophy.
Pakistan are a team who are capable of scaling the world’s highest mountain one day but then could be beaten by Canada the very next day, and it will be interesting to see which version turns up for this opener on Wednesday!
But with top international stars on show for both sides, we could be in for a cracking contest.
TEAMS PREVIEW
Pakistan Preview
Pakistan may not be playing their best cricket at the moment but they are still a side who are packed with match-winners and top international players.
Right-handed opener Babar Azam may not be in the best form of his career but he recently went past 6000 ODI runs and a player of his class will find form again at some point. Fortunately his opening partner, Fakhar Zaman, is hitting the ball cleanly and will be confident coming into this game.
Pakistan’s most consistent batters in this format are skipper Mohammed Rizwan and Salman Agha who will bat at four and five. Between the pair, they have scored almost 60% of their team’s runs in their last two ODIs.
With the ball, Shaheen Shah Afridi has an excellent record against New Zealand as well as one of the best ODI records in the world. Alongside Haris Rauf, they could well cause significant problems to the opposition batting line-up.
PAK Over/Under Betting Tips
Agha Salman Score Over 26.5 1.85Bet now
Salman has grown strength to strength with his consistent run-scoring ability in the middle order. He has scored 219 runs in the last three ODI’s (40, 134 & 45). At Karachi in 8 ODI’s he has scored 408 runs and averages 58.3.
Pakistan Predicted Playing XI:
Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c) (wk), Salman Aghan, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abar Ahmed
New Zealand Preview
New Zealand were without Lockie Ferguson, Ben Sears, Matt Henry and Rachin Ravindra for the final of the Pakistan Tri-Nation Series but still had more than enough in the locker to win the final against Pakistan on Sunday.
Ahead of this opener, the mood-music is that only Matt Henry will return to the XI with Rachin Ravindra not far away but not worth risking at this stage.
In the batting department, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips have all made big scores on this trip and every New Zealand side always has batting depth.
With the ball, the returning Henry will lead the attack with Michael Bracewell alongside Mitchell Santner providing vital control with accurate spin bowling.
New Zealand Predicted Playing XI:
Will Young, Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (wk), Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner (c), Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy, Will O’Rourke
Weather Conditions
The game will get underway at 14:00 local time, the hottest time of the day with the sun blaring out and the temperature at 29 degrees. Even after sundown, it will still be over 24 degrees in Karachi throughout the evening.
PAK vs NZ Pitch Report
Sunday’s final of the Pakistan Tri-Nation Series showed that there is something for both the batters and bowlers. No batter made a score of over 57 and it was Pakistan’s 242 which was easily overhauled by New Zealand with 28 balls and five wickets in hand. A par total looks to be around 300 on a pitch with consistent bounce.
Toss: To Bat
Of the last ten ODIs at the National Stadium in Karachi, five have been won by the team fielding first with five won by the side bowling first! With the hottest weather of the day likely to be in the first innings, we predict that both captains will want to bat first.