ISLAMABAD: A full-strength Pakistan team led by captain Babar Azam will take on a novice New Zealand cricket team in the first of the five Twenty-20 International at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
This would be the Men in Green’s first Twenty-20 cricket game since October of the previous year when they confronted England in the Twenty-20 ICC World Cup final.
Pakistan would be going into the match with the advantage as they’ve won 10 of the 18 cricket matches at the Gaddafi Stadium since 2015. Apart from this, Pakistan also has the upper hand as they’ve defeated New Zealand four times in the previous five cricket matches.
“It is a great feeling to be back in Lahore in Pakistan. This promises will be an exciting series as we bring the exciting young cricketer and the experience of senior cricket players together in this solid squad,” the Pakistan Cricket Board quoted Babar in a press release.
For New Zealand, it is unchartered territory as they’ve never played a Twenty-20 in Pakistan. They’ll hope to bank on the experience of their tour of Karachi when they played two Tests and three One Day Internationa across December and January.
Blackcaps captain Tom Latham said, “It is an exciting tour for us and we know we are coming up against the quality Pakistan team who’ll be a massive challenge. We are missing a few of our senior cricket players, but that is going to offer opportunities to others and I know the team look forward to testing themselves,”
The Kiwi skipper admitted the conditions were “completely different” for them, and they’ll try to “adapt as quickly as possible”.
Gaddafi Stadium will stage Twent-20 matches on April 14, 15 and 17 before the cricket action shifts to Rawalpindi cricket stadium, where the last two cricket games of the series will be played on April 20 and 24.
Pakistan squad: The captain, Babar Azam, Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Fakhar Zaman, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Mohammad Haris, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan
New Zealand squad: Tom Latham (captain, wk), Dane Cleaver, Chad Bowes, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Matt Henry, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell, Rachin Ravindra, Henry Shipley, Jimmy Neesham, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Will Young.
