NZ vs PAK 5th Match Prediction

NZ vs PAK Team Previews

New Zealand

New Zealand rested Devon Conway for the previous match and brought Will Young in. Whether they stick to the same lineup or make a few changes remains to be seen but from a betting perspective, you should see if Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, and Tim Southee are in the playing eleven or not. 

These three players, apart from Finn Allen (who we believe will play this match also) are the key players for New Zealand and give it a lot of resilience. The reason for New Zealand's victories in the series has been its stranglehold over the Pakistani batting. 

No one has been able to score at the run rate required and big hits have been hard to come by at all stages of the game. With Henry, Ferguson, and Southee in the bowling unit alongside Sodhi and Santner, the New Zealand bowling unit is at its strongest. 

The batting looks a bit vulnerable now that Williamson and possibly Conway are out of the reckoning but other players have managed to step up so far. Can New Zealand win once more? It certainly can as we have seen in the series without a doubt, however, not everything is going to go right for the Blackcaps every single time. 

The matches have been getting closer and with possibly a few more changes to the lineup coming, New Zealand may be ripe for the picking. 

Pakistan

Pakistan's bowling unit has been strangely poor with the likes of Haris Rauf and Mohammad Nawaz looking short of confidence. Zaman Khan, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Wasim Jr have not looked threatening at all either. With just one match to go, we think Pakistan has no option but to continue with the same bowling lineup. 

The lack of control and wicket-taking menace that Pakistani bowlers normally show has allowed New Zealand to recover from tough positions more than once. Also, the Pakistani fielding has been horrendous. They keep on dropping simple catches at crucial moments. 

The rejigged batting lineup is also short on confidence and playing in a manner that is not natural to it. Saim Ayub has been very ordinary after a couple of good shots in the first match but he is not someone you want to discard so early. 

The bulk of the runs still have to come from Rizwan and Babar. 

Pakistan is staring down the barrel and it can often be difficult to correct things in a series where the matches are so tightly packed together. It will have to depend on individual brilliance to be able to lift itself out of this losing streak otherwise a 5-0 scoreline is guaranteed.