Saturday's ICC Cricket World Cup clash between New Zealand and Pakistan in Bengaluru will have a crucial bearing on the race to secure a semi final spot.
New Zealand
New Zealand have 4 wins and 3 defeats against their name and having looked bang on course for the semi finals at one stage they now face a nervy conclusion to the round robin stage.
Their most recent outing against South Africa on Wednesday they went down by all of 190 runs. South Africa posted 357/4 batting first and the Black Caps were all out for 167 in reply with Glenn Phillips top scoring with 50.
That was a third straight defeat for New Zealand who were also beaten by Australia by 5 runs in a thriller and India by 4 wickets. They won their first 4 matches, thrashing England by 9 wickets and the Netherlands by 99 runs, then Bangladesh by 8 wickets and Afghanistan by 149 runs.
After this New Zealand take on Sri Lanka.
Squads and Team News
This was how New Zealand lined up last time out.
Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham (c & wk), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Trent Boult
Did not play: Lockie Ferguson, Ish Sodhi, Mark Chapman (Kane Williamson has been missing through injury)
Pakistan
Pakistan have won 3 and lost 4 of their matches and they are 2 points behind New Zealand on the log. Afghanistan who play the Netherlands on Friday have 6 points and are also in the mix.
Last time out Pakistan returned to the winners box with a comfortable 7 wicket win over Bangladesh. They bowled Bangladesh out for just 204 ( Shaheen Afridi 3/23, Mohammad Wasim Jr 3/31) and chased it down in just 32.3 overs with openers Abdullah Shafique (68) and Fakhar Zaman (81) putting them on course for victory.
Prior to that Pakistan were involved in a thrilling match with the Proteas which they lost by 1 wicket. That was a fourth successive defeat for Pakistan who also came unstuck against Afghanistan by 8 wickets and they lost comfortably to India and Australia. Their wins came against the Netherlands by 81 runs and Sri Lanka by 6 wickets at the start of the tournament.
After this Pakistan play England
Squads and Team News
This was how Pakistan lined up last time out.
Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Shaheen Afridi, Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf
Did not play: Imam-ul-Haq, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz
Head to Head
Overall the teams have met 115 times with New Zealand winning 51 to Pakistan's 60 with 1 tie and 3 no results
The teams last met in a 5 match series in Pakistan in April/May this year and Pakistan won 4-1.
In CWC 2019 and Pakistan beat New Zealand by 6 wickets
The Betting
New Zealand are currently trading at around 8/10 to win the game and Pakistan can be backed at around even money
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict
This is a big game as the way things are shaping up there may only be room for a maximum of 1 of these sides in the semi finals.
In Trent Boult and Shaheen Afridi we have 2 outstanding quicks on view and I will follow both to top the respective bowler markets.
Looking for a speculative match special at a nice price how about Babar Azam to score 50, Rizwan to hit a 6 and Afridi to take 3 wickets.
Bets: Top New Zealand Bowler Trent Boult at 11/4 with Sportingbet
Top Pakistan Bowler Shaheen Afridi at 5/2 with Sportingbet
Special: Babar Azam to score 50, Rizwan to hit a 6 and Afridi to take 3+ wickets at 14/1 with Sportingbet.
Note all prices are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
Discussion Forum
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