Just days after getting whitewashed in a series at home to England by 3-0 the Pakistanis will be facing New Zealand. While they may heave a sigh of relief at the prospect of no Baz-Ball cricket, the Kiwis are a formidable outfit themselves. Both the teams have lost their last 4 test matches and are in the worst test form of their career. Kane Williamson has given up test captaincy and will now focus solely on his batting. For the home team Mohammad Rizwan might make way for Sarfaraz Ahmed as doubts over Babar Azam’s leadership remains.
Venue – National Stadium, Karachi
Time – 1030 AM IST
Likely pitch conditions –
Just like the last test match versus England, the pitch could be low and slow and a haven for spin bowling. The strip will be a classic bat 1st wicket and the team winning the toss will be having an advantage. Batting 3rd and 4th will be tough with seam bowling conducive during the 1st few hours. Reverse swing will come into the equation once the ball gets old.
Likely Pakistan XI –
Shafique, Imam Ul Haq, Masood, Azam, Shakeel, Salman, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Zahid Mahmood and Mohammad Wasim Jr
Likely New Zealand XI –
Latham, Conway, Young, Williamson, Mitchell, Blundell, Nicholls, Patel, Southee, Wagner and Bracewell
Head to Head Record –
Games played – 60
Wins for Pakistan – 25
Wins for NZ – 14
Drawn games – 21
Head to Head at this venue –
Games played – 6
Wins for Pakistan – 3
Drawn games – 3
Karachi stadium test record –
Games played – 45
Wins for Pakistan – 23
Wins for visiting side – 3
Drawn games – 19
Games won after batting 1st – 7
Games won after batting 2nd – 19
Games won after winning the toss – 10
Games won after losing the toss – 16
Best individual score at this venue – Y Khan vs SL in 2009
Best bowling figures at this venue – 8/60 by I. Khan vs India in 1982
Highest team total at this venue – 765/6 by PAK vs SL in 2009
Lowest team total at this venue – 80 all out by AUS vs PAK in 1956
Average 1st innings score – 295
Average run rate – 2.8 RPO
Approaching milestones –
·Abdullah Shafique needs 51 runs to reach 1000 test runs for Pakistan
·Shafique could become the joint fastest to score 1000 test runs along with Saeed Anwar who got there in his 20th test innings
·Abrar Ahmed needs 7 wickets to complete 100 1st class wickets
·Hasan Ali needs 12 wickets to reach 300 wickets in 1str class cricket
·Sarfaraz Ahmed needs 4 catches to reach 150 catches in test cricket
·This could be Sarfaraz Ahmed’s 50 test for Pakistan
·Shan Masood needs 62 runs to reach 2000 runs in international cricket
·If Naseem shah picks more than 2 wickers he will go past Azhar Mahmood who has 39 test wickets to become the 44th best wicket taker for Pakistan
·Tim Southee is set to become the 31st test captain for New Zealand
·Tim Southee needs 3 wickets to reach 350 test wickets for his team
·He will become the 3rd Kiwi to achieve this feat in test cricket
·Southee also needs 2 more sixes to tie with MSD and 3 more to go past MSD to move into the 14th place in all the time leading six hitters in test cricket
·Tom Blundell needs 1 more to catch to reach the 50 mark in test cricket
·Conway needs 82 runs to reach 1000 runs in test cricket
·Tom Latham needs 142 runs to reach 10000 runs in 1st class cricket
·Latham needs 80 runs to go past Nathan Astle to become the 7th best test run scorer for New Zealand
·Daryl Mitchell needs 59 runs to score 1000 runs in test cricket
·Mitchell also needs 13 runs to score 5000 runs in 1st class cricket
·Ajaz Patel needs 4 wickets to reach 300 wickets in 1st class cricket
·Patel also needs 7 wickets to reach 50 in test cricket
·Phillips needs 52 runs to reach 3000 runs in 1st class cricket
·Neil Wagner needs 4 wickets to reach 250 test wickets
·Wagner will be the 5th kiwi to achieve this feat
·Wagner also needs 5 wickets to reach 800 wickets in 1st class cricket
·Will young needs 22 runs to reach 1000 runs in international cricket
·Young needs 76 runs to reach 7000 runs in 1st class cricket