Shahid Khan Afridi
Pakistan-New Zealand – the two crowd pullers world class teams to face each other in ODI openerPakistan and New Zealand will be facing each other in the first match of the three matches One Day International Series to be commencing from Friday at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium with both top teams of the world are there to fight each other in front of crowd less Stadium.
Host Pakistan and the visitor New Zealand are being considered as the most dangerous, crowd pullers, spirited and fighting teams with top class players. Both teams mostly relay on some top class all-rounders with each have bunch of leading batsmen of the world and famous pacers. When both take to the field for a five-a-side Test, the enthusiasm of the players as well as the millions of spectators, watching the serious live on electronic, social media and should fully amused the aspirant of cricket.
Cricket fans eagerly await the matches between these two teams. It is also found on the occasion of Pakistan and the Pakistani people are anxiously waiting for this series because on one hand the New Zealand cricket team considered is a strong and dangerous opponent playing the cricket on Pakistani soil after 18 years long break. When the two teams take the field certainly it attract cricket fans all over the world. The two teams series at one hand attract the spectators from both the countries as after a long time the international cricket and team like New Zealand, which is famous for entertaining cricket and pulling cricketing fans are playing against host Pakistan.
Hopefully, the match at one hands cement a cricketing bound between the two countries besides leading a much entertaining cricket to the cricketing fans of the world. Cricket between the two countries – Pakistan and New Zealand has always been a toughest and fighting for each other as for this series is concerned. Pakistan has the advantage of home ground and home crowd. Most of the matches between the two teams have been won or lost by a narrow margin because each of the team fought for victory till the end.
A five-match Twenty20 Series will also be played between Pakistan and New Zealand, including a series of three One-Day Internationals (OIDS). The tour is also crucial for this year’s T20 World Cup in Dubai as it will be a training session for the players of both the teams and a great opportunity to get back on track and improve their performance, ODI International in terms of rankings. According to the ICC, New Zealand is currently in the first position with 2054 points after playing 17 matches, while Pakistan is at the 6th position in the rankings with 2524 points after playing 27 matches.
In the player rankings, Pakistan captain Babar Azam is currently at number one, while New Zealand’s Ross Taylor is at No. 4 and Ken Williamson is at No. 4. New Zealand’s Mitchell Sentner is 5th and Golan de Grandhomme is 6th in the All-Rounders rankings. Pakistan’s Amad Wasim is 8th. Pakistan currently has 34 matches and 8883 points in the ICC T20 World Rankings 3rd with New Zealand with 28 matches and 7192 points. Brahman is at No. 4. In terms of T20 player rankings, Pakistan’s Babar Azam is second in batting, while New Zealand’s Devon Conway is fourth and Martin Guptill is tenth. T20 is also not in the top ten.
If you look at the history, there are many similar matches between Pakistan and New Zealand that cricket fans still remember. In between 1972-73, 33 ODIs have been played between the two teams series have been played in which both teams have equal weight. Both have won 15-15 series, two series have been drawn and one series has been declared joint winner. On February 11, 1973, the two teams met for the first time in New Zealand. In this lone ODI match in Christchurch, New Zealand won by 22 runs. The second one-day international between the two teams was played on October 16, 1976 in Sialkot, where New Zealand won by just one run.
It may be recalled that in these two matches between Pakistan and New Zealand, there was an over consisting of 8 balls. In the 1984-85 season, the New Zealand team visited Pakistan for the first time and a series of 4 ODIs was played between the two in which Pakistan won 3-1. A match was also played in the same series on November 12, 1984 at the Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium in Peshawar. The following year, in 1985, Pakistan toured New Zealand where the Kiwis avenged their defeat by winning the four-match series 3-0.
The first match of the series ended in a draw due to rain. Pakistan won the triangular series between Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 1986, while Australia, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Sri Lanka participated in the Australasia Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the same year. Pakistan and India clashed in the final and Pakistan won the Australasia Cup title by 1 wicket. The last series between Pakistan and New Zealand was hosted by Pakistan in November 2003 when the national team was a guest at the home ground. Whitewashed the team and won the five-match series 5-0.
The Kiwis treated the Pakistan team that toured New Zealand in January 2018 in the same way as they did in 2003, in a five-match series. So far, a total of 108 ODIs have been played between the two teams in which Pakistan has won 55 matches. New Zealand won 48 matches while 3 matches ended in a draw and 1 match was tied and 1 was postponed. New Zealand’s highest score against Pakistan is 369 runs for the loss of 5 wickets which it made in Napier on February 3, 2015.
However, Pakistan scored the highest score 364 for 7 against New Zealand played in Sharjah on December 14, 2014. Lowest score in the match played in Sharjah on April 15, 1986, Pakistan has kept New Zealand at the lowest score of 64.
Similarly, New Zealand bowled out Pakistan for at least 74 runs. On June 13, 2018, New Zealand scored 257 runs in this match, following which the entire Pakistan team returned to the pavilion for just 74 runs. Now let’s talk about the short format of T20 cricket between Pakistan and New Zealand teams. The first match between Pakistan and New Zealand in T20 format took place in the semi-finals of the first World Cup in 2007. Pakistan won the match by 6 wickets.
Similarly, the last match between the two teams so far was played on December 22, 2020 in New Zealand in which Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 4 wickets. Pakistan and New Zealand have played one-on-one T20 series in which both the teams have won 3-3 series while 1 series has been drawn. A total of 24 T20 matches have been played between the two teams so far, of which 14 have been won by Pakistan and 10 by New Zealand so the track record of the Pakistani team is better on the ground. This month, the New Zealand team toured Pakistan again after 18 years. The series will feature three ODIs and five T20I matches. The series is a great opportunity for both the teams to prepare for the World Cup and improve their performance, which both the teams will do their best to take advantage of the series between short-listing the real final squad for the forthcoming World Cup.
