By Suneer Chowdhary
The two teams meet again in the World Cup and this time it will be in conditions which would probably bear no resemblance to that in that series. The track should assist the Pakistani side more than the Kiwis, but it must also be added that this is the first time an ODI will be played at Pallekele.
Published: Mar 07, 2011, 06:50 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 07, 2011, 06:50 PM (IST)
New Zealand players during a practise session
By Suneer Chowdhary
Pallekele: Mar 8, 2011
When the two teams had last met in a series only a few days prior to the commencement of the World Cup, New Zealand had gone down 2-3 to Pakistan.
In the given context, it was probably a result that New Zealand would have been secretly happy with. They had gone into the series with a shattered morale of having gone down in 12 successive games and a home-series whitewash to a side which had struggled through most part of the previous season would have probably been fatal to the side’s chances in this tournament.
The two teams meet again in the World Cup and this time it will be in conditions which would probably bear no resemblance to that in that series. The track should assist the Pakistani side more than the Kiwis, but it must also be added that this is the first time an ODI will be played at Pallekele.
The one Test match played here had seen all of 103 overs being bowled before rain undertook the proceedings. Spinners had dominated with six of the eight wickets to fall in the game.
Despite three wins from their three games in the tournament, not too many experts are too thrilled about Pakistan’s team composition. The strategy to go in with three frontline bowlers apart from Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq has worked so far but the general refrain is that against better opponents the bowling may come cropper.
Where the tactic could continue to prove beneficial is because of the slowing nature of the pitches with the approach of the summers. With the presence of Mohammad Hafeez’s handy off-spin as well, one senses that Afridi may look to play the same eleven.
Pakistan had had to give up on Shoaib Akhtar in the previous game due to fitness issues but he should be back for this one. Wahab Riaz could sit out of the game in that case unless Afridi does want to experiment with getting in a frontline fourth bowler and dropping Razzaq.
New Zealand have been grappling with the fitness concerns with Jacob Oram. When fit, Oram takes full advantage of his height to make scoring difficult for the batting but he has missed out in the last couple of games. Similarly, Kyle Mills had missed the side’s first couple of games but came back to get a couple of wickets against Zimbabwe. Then, there were issues with Nathan McCullum as well, who was off the field for most part of the innings in the last game.
Captain Daniel Vettori will hope to have the services of his best 11 to have any chance of making it an even battle.
Where the Black Caps have given indications of struggling in the tournament’s first loss is their batting. Despite possessing four of the more talented batsmen around, at the top of the innings, there is dependence on the lower-order to do the job. Against a bowling attack which will see Afridi (14 wickets in three games) come to the fore in the middle of the innings, majority of the batting damage will need to be done by the top four.
Martin Guptill has looked good with his run-scoring in the World Cup, to go with being the top-scorer for either side in the previous series. He needs to bat through the innings even as Brendon McCullum can show some restraint and try to see off the first few overs as well.
Truth be told, the result of this game should not have any impact on the qualifying teams for the World Cup quarter-finals. It is hard to see Zimbabwe, Kenya and Canada challenge the other four in the group.
That said, Pakistan will have a fair idea that India has a good chance of finishing in the top two of their group, which roughly translates into Pakistan not wishing to end up being third-fourth in their group. This will allow Pakistan to not travel to Ahmedabad for their last-eight encounter.
Teams:
New Zealand (Probable): Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum (wk), Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram/James Franklin, Daniel Vettori (c), Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Hamish Bennett.
Pakistan (Probable): Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal (wk), Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi (c), Abdur Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal.
Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Nigel Llong (England).
Time: 14.30 hours local (09.00 GMT)
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here: @suneerchowdhary)
Pictures © Getty Images
