The first of three one day internationals between Pakistan and New Zealand takes place at Rawalpindi on Friday and we take a look at the squads, recent form and the all important betting
This is a 3 match series with all the games staged at Rawalpindi to be followed by 5 T20's in Lahore and we begin with a look at the ODI squads.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saud Shakeel, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir, Zahid Mahmood
New Zealand: Tom Latham (c/wk), Finn Allen, Hamish Bennett, Tom Blundell (wk), Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry Scott Kuggeleijn, Cole McConchie, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Blair Tickner, Will Young
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Recent Form
Pakistan
Pakistan's most recent ODI action came in England in July where they lost all 3 matches by margins of 9 wickets, 52 runs and 3 wickets.
Prior to that Pakistan were in South Africa in April and they won a 3 match series 2-1. They won the opening contest by 3 wickets, lost the second by 17 runs and won the decider by 28 runs.
New Zealand
New Zealand's only ODI action this year came at home to Bangladesh in March and they won all 3 matches in the series by margins of 8 wickets, 5 wickets and then 164 runs.
Recent Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 107 times with Pakistan winning 55, New Zealand have won 48 with 1 tie and there have been 3 no results.
It's 18 years since New Zealand last toured Pakistan and the most recent clash between these teams came in June 2019 in the World Cup in Birmingham.
Pakistan won it by 6 wickets with Babar Azam scoring an unbeaten 101 as they chased down 237/6 with 5 balls to spare.
In the UAE in late 2018 a 3 match series was shared 1-1 with no result possible in the other game.
The Betting
Pakistan are currently trading at around 1 / 3 to win the game and New Zealand can be backed at around 2.25/1
Babar Azam is 5/2 to top score for Pakistan with Allen and Latham 100/30 joint favourites to do likewise for New Zealand
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
With the resources they have available Nw Zealand look up against it in this format and the betting interest comes in the top bat and ball markets.
To me Fakhar Zaman is a viable alternative to his skipper in the top Pakistan bat market. A top performer in his own right I can see him scoring big if Pakistan dominate as the match result betting suggests.
The top NZ bowler market also made some appeal with Ajaz Patel the choice after a fair amount of guess work.
Bets: Top Pakistan bat Fakhar Zaman at 7/2
Top NZ Bowler Ajaz Patel at 7/2
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
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