PAK vs NZ Match Preview
The one-day series between Pakistan and New Zealand had already been decided ahead of the 4th game in Karachi. Pakistan made a few changes to their side to facilitate the return of Iftikhar Ahmed, Shan Masood, and Mohammad Haris. These players did a reasonable job in the 4th encounter and are likely to maintain their place in the eleven. Babar Azam has been at his sublime best during the series as he has scored at least a fifty on every occasion. He finally brought up the three-figure mark in the 4th game of the series on Friday.
The 27-year-old leg spinner Usama Mir could not pick any wickets in his last appearance before the 4th ODI and also conceded 66 runs. This was in the 3rd match played at Rawalpindi. But he made a strong comeback to pick up a 4-wicket haul for 43 runs in the 4th one-day game. Haris Rauf is a seamer and he found a recall to the playing eleven after being rested for the 3rd ODI. He succeeded in picking up the key wickets of James Neesham and Tom Blundell in this game. Pakistan not only won the 4th game of the series they won it by a huge margin.
In the 4th one-day match of the series, Tom Blundell donned the wicket-keeping gloves taking the responsibility from the skipper Tom Latham. He also took the place of Chad Bowes at the top of the order for the 4th match of the series. Blair Tickner and Ben Lister both made a comeback to the side and these two are likely to be retained in the side for this last game on Sunday as well. The 31-year-old all-rounder Daryl Mitchell has not succeeded in hitting a half-century in his last couple of appearances although he was off to a valiant start in the series.
Tom Latham has also been in awesome form in his last 3 matches scoring 98, 45, and 60 runs respectively. He has the experience and patience to play a long inning. The bowling honors will have to be with Matt Henry. This experienced speedster has been the standout performer for New Zealand with the ball in their last couple of encounters and he also enjoys the conditions on offer at the Karachi venue. New Zealand were never the favorites to win the series however, they will be disappointed at not winning any games at all in the series.
Weather Report
The Karachi weather during this 5th game of the series is likely to remain sunny and warm. There are not many chances of getting rainfall during this match but we might have a bit of a cloud cover at some stage of the match. This can help the seamers get some movement from the track.
Pitch Report
This is the 5th and last match of the one-day series between the two countries. The game will be hosted at the National Cricket Stadium in Karachi. The surface on offer at the ground will be a good one for batsmen. However, there may be some sort of help on offer for quick bowlers. They might be able to exploit the conditions with the new ball.
Notable stats
Naseem Shah has had an incredible strike rate in the last 8 games.
Naseem Shah has picked up 23 wickets in his last 8 appearances for Pakistan with a strike rate of 19.04.
Fakhar Zaman has an incredible average and strike rate.
In his last 10 appearances for Pakistan, Fakhar Zaman has scored runs with an average of 69.44 and a strike rate of 93.84.
Team News
There are likely to be some changes to both the teams for the last game as the series result is not in question anymore. Barring that, there do not seem to be any injury worries for either team.
PAK vs NZ Probable 11
PAK Playing 11
- Fakhar Zaman
- Shan Masood
- Babar Azam (C)
- Mohammad Rizwan (Wk)
- Agha Salman
- Iftikhar Ahmed
- Mohammad Haris
- Mohammed Wasim
- Usama Mir
- Haris Rauf
- Shaheen Shah Afridi
NZ Playing 11
- Will Young
- Tom Blundell (Wk)
- Daryl Mitchell
- Tom Latham (C)
- Mark Chapman
- Henry Nicholls
- Cole McConchie
- Ben Lister
- Blair Tickner
- Ish Sodhi
- Matt Henry
Dream11 Prediction
The Pakistan team has provided an awesome performance in the series. They have won all 4 games played in the series and are leading it 4-0. It will take a monumental effort from the New Zealand team to try and win this last match of the series. They will have to play out of their skins to win this game. We will be betting on Pakistan to win this game and take the series 5-0.
Top Picks
Babar Azam: The Pakistani skipper has been in sublime form with the bat. He has scored at least a fifty on all four occasions he went into bat. He is averaging 64.60 in his last 10 games for Pakistan.
Henry Shipley: Henry Shipley has picked up 12 wickets for New Zealand in his last 6 games while bowling with an economy rate of 24.75.
Fakhar Zaman: Fakhar Zaman was off to a flyer in the one-day series hitting two hundreds in his first 2 matches. He has not contributed much to the team's cause in the next couple of games though.
Haris Rauf: Haris Rauf bowled well in the last game for Pakistan. You can expect him to be among the wickets in this encounter as well.
PAK vs NZ Dream11 Team 1
Keeper: T Latham , M Rizwan
Batters: T Blundell, B Azam (C), D Mitchell , F Zaman
All-rounders: A Salman
Bowlers: M Henry (VC), N Shah, H Rauf, S Afridi
