Pakistan has had a poor outing in all the six matches on this tour, having lost all of them.
New Zealand, on the other hand, hasn’t looked back since their home season begun against the West Indies, having whitewashed the visiting Windies across formats and now Pakistan is facing the heat following their 5-0 thumping in the One Day Internationals.
1-0 down in the T20I series, Pakistan would love to get a victory under the belt to stay in the series as well as to salvage their crushing defeats in successive games.
MATCH INFO
Date and Time:Â Play will begin at 11:00 am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) on January 25, 2018.
Venue: The second T20I is a night game which will be played at Eden Park, Auckland, with play to begin at 11:00 PST.
Television: The match will be streamed live at PTV Sports YouTube channel and Wickets TV. For live action on TV, you can tune into PTV Sports or Ten Sports.
Possible Lineups
Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad may get a chance replacing Muhammad Nawaz and Umar Amin who had a disappointing outing in the first match. Aamer Yamin may also be called in for the 2nd T20 replacing Muhammad Amir who failed to impress yet again.
New Zealand would like to maintain the winning combination, however, Kane Williamson is expected to resume captaincy duties taking over from Tim Southee, if he is ruled fit before the match. AK Kitchen will miss out if Kane Williamson is fit for the match. No other changes are expected in the Kiwi side.
Pakistan:Â Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez/Muhammad Nawaz, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Rumman Raees, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin.
New Zealand:Â Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Glenn Phillips (wk), Tom Bruce, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Seth Rance, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi.
Head-to-Head
Pakistan and New Zealand have faced each other 16 times in T20s, with both teams winning 8 times. Pakistan last won a T20 against the Kiwis in 2016 at Auckland.
Recent Form
By now everyone knows how tough a team New Zealand is at home conditions. Williamson XI has outclassed Pakistan, winning every game till now on this tour.
In the last five completed encounters, New Zealand has had the upper hand, winning four matches, all by big margins.
Upcoming Fixtures
The final game of the tour will once again be a night fixture at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui. The play will begin at 11:00 am PST. Pakistan would love to enter into the game with series leveled at 1-1, avoiding yet another dead rubber.
