NZ vs PAK 2nd Match Prediction

NZ vs PAK Team Previews

New Zealand

New Zealand played a brilliantly aggressive form of cricket in the first match and just did not take a step backward. Kane Williamson was the top scorer and held the batting together while Finn Allen, Daryll Mitchell, and Mark Chapman played absolute blinders. This approach to batting is possible because New Zealand has a tremendous amount of depth.

Mark Chapman batting at number 7 is a massive boost and they could potentially add Santner at 8 down the line as well. 

Expect a similar aggressive approach in Hamilton although the bigger boundaries will test all batters a bit more. 

The form that Daryll Mitchell has shown makes him the player to back while Devon Conway is also way too good to miss out continuously. New Zealand's bowling was helped by having such a large target to defend because there appeared to be a few weaknesses can be exploited. 

Adam Milne and Bean Sears were a bit off their marks and Ish Sodhi did not generate a lot of confidence in us either. Matt Henry and Tim Southee were the standout bowlers and the ones we think could be in the wickets once more. 

Pakistan

Pakistan can once again be proud of the manner in that they played but would rue the blunders they made in the field. There are a lot of positives to take from the previous match for Pakistan including Saim Ayub's batting, Abbas Afridi's bowling, and Haris Rauf's return to his best. 

However, the balance of the side does not seem to be quite right at the moment. Babar Azam batted well at three but every other player struggled out of position. Iftikhar Ahmed seemed to be a bit too high up, Azam Khan is quite raw, Shaheen Afridi batted at 7 for some reason, and Fakhar Zaman at 4 looked uncomfortable. 

Pakistan has taken a new and more aggressive approach to batting but this lineup is still a work in progress. More changes are needed before the team finds its footing. 

The bowling was quite poor and the spin woes continue. Will Abrar Ahmed get a chance in this next game? We hope so because Usama Mir has not looked at home in foreign conditions. Shaheen Afridi picked up some cheap wickets at the end but his bowling was quite poor and he went for a lot of runs. 

Pakistan's bowling attack disappointed in the previous match but it has enough quality to be able to bounce back.