The Pakistan Cricket Board have already named the playing XI for the third T20I against New Zealand in Dunedin on Wednesday, January 17. The Men in Green lost both their first two games and needs to win the third T20I to keep the series alive.
Since 2022, Pakistan haven’t won a single T20I series, having lost to Australia, England and even Afghanistan. They have been very ill-disciplined with the ball in the first two games. Heading into the third T20I, they have made three changes as the board named their playing XI.
Mohammad Nawaz has come in for Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr for Abbas Afridi and Zaman Khan has come in for the injured Abbas Afridi. The inclusion of the three players certainly bolsters the Pakistan playing XI.
Pakistan’s performance since the T20 World Cup 2022 has not been that great across formats. Among all the Test-playing nations, they have played the joint least number of T20Is (18) along with Sri Lanka and have won only one-third of their matches.
After a debatable performance in the ICC World Cup 2023, Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy. That led the PCB to change the entire administration as well as captaincy across formats.
The PCB also changed with Mohammad Hafeez taking over the team director role from Mickey Arthur and former cricketer Wahab Riaz being appointed as the new PCB chief selector. This is Shaheen’s maiden stint as captain for Pakistan.
Pakistan are missing a few key players heading into this T20I series. They are without Abrar Ahmed and Shadab Khan two specialist spinners who are not a part of the team. Lack of a specialist spinner has hurt the team’s chances in the series so far.
Pakistan Playing 11 vs New Zealand – 3rd T20I, 2024
Mohammad Rizwan
The experienced opener has not scored too many runs in the first two games. He scored 25 in the first game and just seven in the second. The senior batter has to score if Pakistan are to win the next game.
Saim Ayub
The young opener will 27 in the first T20I and just 1 in the second T20I. It is in games like these that a young players needs to grab his chances and make the most of it. Ayub has that chance in the next game.
Babar Azam
Babar will bat at three. He has scored back to back fifties and now has scored the third-most runs in T20I cricket with 3608 from 106 games including three hundreds and 32 fifties.
Fakhar Zaman
Fakhar will slot in at four. He is an opener by choice but is made to bat lower down the order. He scored a quickfire 50 off 25 balls in the second T20I. He scored just 15 in the first T20I.
Iftikhar Ahmed
Iftikhar will slot in at five. He is a specialist finisher but has not contributed with too many runs in the first two games. He scored 24 in the first T20I and just four in the second.
Azam Khan (WK)
Azam Khan will slot in at six. He scored 10 off 9 in the first T20I and just two in the second T20I. He is being asked to keep despite the presence of Mohammad Rizan in the side. Azam Khan plays attacking cricket in the PSL but has not translated that form yet in international cricket.
Mohammad Nawaz
Mohammad Nawaz will slot in at seven. He will replace Usama Mir in the XI who has not been successful as a spinner in New Zealand conditions. With Nawaz, Pakistan will get some lower-order batting as well.
Shaheen Afridi
Sheheen will bat at eight. He is the newly appointed T20I skipper and is already under the pump. He has picked up just three wickets so far in the two games and has been pretty expensive.
Haris Rauf
Rauf will partner with Afridi from the other end. He is a specialist T20I bowler for Pakistan. He picked up two wickets in the first game and three in the second. However, he has been expensive as well. He is 12 short of 100 T20I wickets.
Mohammad Wasim Jr
Wasim Jr is the third pacer in the XI. He is another change in place of Aamer Jamal who was pretty expensive in the first two games. Wasim bowlers with good pace something that should help Pakistan.
Zaman Khan
Zaman Khan concludes the likely playing XI for the third T20I against New Zealand. He will replace injured Abbas Afridi who is out with an abdomen injury. Zaman has played six T20Is and picked up four wickets so far.
Also Read: IND vs AFG: Jonathan Trott Provides Huge Update On ‘Influential Player’ Rashid Khan’s Injury
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