Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is all set to host the first T20 International (T20I) match between Pakistan and New Zealand on Friday night. Team Green and the Black Caps are all geared up to put up a brilliant game for their fans.
When Pakistan captain Babar Azam takes the field on Friday night, he will become the third Pakistan player to feature in 100 Men’s T20Is.
Shoaib Malik (123) and Mohammad Hafeez (119) are the two other Pakistanis who have reached this milestone in men’s T20Is.
Fans will be expecting Babar Azam to hit his trademark cover drives and classy shots along with Muhammad Rizwan, his partner in many run chases.
New Zealand will play five T20Is and five One-Day Internationals (ODI) in Pakistan starting from today.
New Zealand captain Tom Latham has emphasized that Pakistan have a bunch of match winning players who can lead the team to victory in every sort of conditions.
The Kiwi captain acknowledged his opponent team’s fast bowlers, quality spinners and a formidable batting lineup that could pose a threat to his team.
“You can look at everyone across the Pakistan squad, they’ve got guys who bowl fast, quality spinners and obviously with the bat they have many match winners. So we have to play really well to beat them but it is an opportunity that the guys are really looking forward to play against this quality Pakistan side,” he said.
The 31-year-old is optimistic about his team’s chances in the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan despite the absence of key players due to Indian Premier League (IPL) commitments.
“Pakistan is a quality side, they have come off the back of their Pakistan Super League (PSL) tournament just recently and they’ve picked guys who are in form, so even though we are missing a few players due to IPL commitments, that presents an opportunity to the other players,” he observed.
Admitting that some players in the New Zealand team haven’t played “huge amounts of cricket”, Latham stressed that they still have players who have played a lot of T20 cricket.
“So it is an exciting opportunity for this group to come here and to explore conditions where we haven’t played a lot in before and hopefully we can put up a good performance on the board,” he concluded.
