 Pakistan will play New Zealand in the second T20 at Dubai today. The first
game was easily won by Pakistan and they now lead the series 1-0. However,
knowing very well that the Kiwis had trailed them in the ODIs as well, before
turning it around, and winning the fifty overs series, the Pakistanis will do
well not to relax in these back to back encounters.
Click for Live Score Card of Pakistan vs New ZealandThe biggest piece of news for the Kiwis is that they had lost Aaron Redmond
in the first game due to a groin injury. This means that the side which had
gone into the first game with only 12 fit men, have been reduced to 11 and the
side may just pick itself up! Of course, it also depends on whether the pair
of James Franklin and Kyle Mills is fit enough to play in this game,
or whether they will continue to remain ruled out of the games.
The Kiwis will have other issues as well. With Daniel Vettori out of
the game thanks to the injury he sustained while batting, the bowling department
is almost halved in its efficiency. This against a side, which has a barrage
of spinners in Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik and Fawad Alam.
With the Kiwis now being led by Brendon McCullum, the good thing going
for them is that they at least have a back-up, replacement wicket-keeper in
BJ Watling. This will mean that he continues to don the gloves as McCullum will
be the captain of the side in the absence of Vettori.
Talking of the Pakistani camp, Imran Nazir finally came good in the
first game as he smashed a 38-ball 58, something which was very reminiscent
of the knock that he had played in the finals of the ICL in 2008. While there
were not too many big scorers apart from him, the good bit was that the rest
of the batsmen chipped in with their own efforts with the bat - scoring at better
than a run a ball.
Pakistan has Abdul Razzaq coming into bat at the number seven position,
which means that they have a reasonable batting line-up, capable of batting
through the innings. With Sohail Tanvir and Mohammad Aamer at number eight and
nine, the batting pretty shored up. And when one talks of the bowling, eight
of the 11 in the side can bowl, and bowl well at that. This ensures that the
team is well placed to win the second T20I as well and win the series 2-0.
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