Venue: Edgbaston, Birmingham
Timing: 3 PM IST
The 33rd match of the ICC World Cup 2019 will be played between table-toppers New Zealand and Pakistan at the Edgbaston ground in Birmingham. New Zealand needs just one victory to ensure a spot in the semi-finals, while for Pakistan, they need to win this game and win big to boost their run-rate.
New Zealand has been on top of their game however, there is a glaring problem which has been hidden thanks to the performance of the others. The opening combination has not worked for the Kiwis with Guptill and Munro not giving them ideal starts and all the work has been done by Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson to some extent with help of Neesham, De Grandhomme later. The top order needs to fire against a resurging Pakistani team.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has no other option but to win and win big. They made some much-needed changes to their playing XI and results showed brightly. Haris Sohail infused some adrenaline into the batting which helped hem rout South Africa. Also bringing in Shaheen Afridi has also let them keep the pressure on after Mohammad Amir and Riaz have pushed back the opposition batsmen.
The match has been touted a big one for both teams as one requires just a win to make it into the semis, while a loss to the other, means they are ousted from the tournament.
New Zealand Predicted Playing XI:
Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(C), Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (WK), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Pakistan Predicted Playing XI:
Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Sarfaraz Ahmed(C-WK), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi
