🏏ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026: S8 - M41: New Zealand vs Pakistan🏏 - Page 4

Good news for the Kiwis: Santner has recovered from his illness and is striding out towards the pitch for the toss formalities...

New Zealand XI: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (capt), Jimmy Neesham, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson

Pakistan XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (capt), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq

Pakistan has won the toss and elected to bat.

It is time for the toss. Santner and Salman out in the middle. And there is a slight mizzle about as the toss is taking place. Santner gives the coin a spin. Salman calls heads and heads it is. Pakistan will bat first. Fakhar comes in for Nafay. Two pace options and lot of spin options, he says. Adds that they have to play their A-game.

Pakistan has won the toss and opted to bat first

Teams:

New Zealand XI: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (capt), Jimmy Neesham, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson

Pakistan XI: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (capt), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq

Mitch Santner: We have 3 changes. Ish Sodhi is back and Lockie is back as well. Should be entertaining, they got some good spinners.

Salman Agha: We gonna bat first. We have one change. Fakhar is playing and Nafay is not playing. We have one pacer, Faheem Ashraf - he is a good all-rounder. So we have 2 pacers and lot of spin options. They are a quality side, we know that. We have to play our A game and that is what we look forward to today.

Pitch Report: The pitch looks a little tacky, says Ramiz Raja, which Aaron Finch agrees to. The grass is not live. Taking pace off could be the way to go, and even though it will take a brave heart to toss the ball up as spinners, that might be the suitable option. The pitch report seems to have been recorded before the toss, with Finch saying the captain winning the toss might want to field first, which, of course, Salman has gone against.

The covers, by the way, have come on. Nagraj tells me the whole ground is set to be covered, which was not the case a while back. It may be a greater precautionary measure post the toss, or the ground staff might know something we do not. Let's hope it is the former.

Ibrahim : "What do you think about not playing Abrar despite the spin friendly conditions? Kind of feels like a miss, especially with Faheem still in despair Fakhar coming in as batting cover." -- To be honest, it is surprising. Because Abrar only had one real bad game (against India), and was brilliant at the Asia Cup last year, which were similar conditions.

Dr Tamoor: "Brave decision by Agha. Not many skippers would have opted to bat first with gloomy overhead conditions !" -- Might have something to do with how spectacularly the decision to field first backfired against India.

Covers back on. it wil be this kind of a day i suppose," warns Pratyush. It's drizzling now and they are covering the entire ground," he further adds.

Pitch and conditions:

In terms of ground dimensions, the straight boundary measures around 79 metres, while the square boundaries are 69 and 67 metres. Former Australia captain Aaron Finch shared his initial thoughts on the pitch. He felt the surface looks slightly tacky, with very little live grass, meaning the new ball is unlikely to do much early. As seen in previous games at the venue, the wicket tends to slow down as the match progresses. One key trend during the tournament has been the effectiveness of slower spinners. Those who give the ball more flight have been harder to score off compared to spinners who fire it in quicker. The ball tends to hold in the surface, grip more, and sit up slightly, making stroke-making difficult. In contrast, pace on the ball has generally been easier to put away. Given the bigger boundaries and the surface not coming nicely onto the bat, spinners can afford to be brave, toss the ball up, and try to deceive batters in the air.

Match is delayed

Well, as we mentioned earlier about the forecast. Just when the toss happened, it started to drizzle and the covers came over the pitch quickly. So, we might be in for a delayed start here.

A steady drizzle, Madushka Balasuriya chimes in from the venue. Entire ground under covers too, meaning we could be in for a bit of a delay. And just as I finish typing that, Madushka buzzes again, saying the rain is heavier now.

Khalid Bukhari : "Rain can cut overs short, bringing DLS into play. Bowling first often looks like the smarter move then, as it might mean a shorter target for the other team later. And yeah, rain can make things wild, and that swing with the new ball can be trouble." -- Still a bit of time before we lose overs. But if we do get into that territory, the dynamics could change significantly.