cricket

The men’s ICC World Twenty20 bandwagon finally arrives in Mohali. While the pitches have been the talking point in all the other venues that have featured so far, there’s bound to be scrutiny on the strip at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium as well. And clashing here will be two teams who have been polar opposites in terms of pitch-reading so far. New Zealand have been perfect, Pakistan have been perfectly imperfect.

So it wasn’t a surprise when a host of Pakistan players, including Shahid Afridi, headed straight out towards the pitch when they came for their practice session on Monday (March 21). The strip was still under covers but when it was removed, there seemed hardly a difference between the ground and the wicket itself.

Of course all this was nearly 36 hours before the scheduled start of play. The curator did get 

going soon after and by evening, it had lost several shades of green. The real pitch-reading 

will have to come from the skippers and the think-tank of course but on first evidence, this hardly seemed one that would turn as square as Nagpur or Kolkata.

That will be good news for both teams that have traditionally and even recently relied a lot more on their pace department. It might even give New Zealand an opportunity to field Tim Southee and Trent Boult for the first time in the tournament.

Pakistan might finally get a chance to field the same combination without being ridiculed for it. But there’s still a fair bit of time for both teams to weight up options. What doesn’t change is the fact that this will be a crucial tie for both teams.
Teams:

Pakistan (From): Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed(w), Shahid Afridi(c), Mohammad Nawaz, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Khalid Latif, Imad Wasim

New Zealand (From): Kane Williamson(c), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Corey Anderson, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Luke Ronchi(w), Mitchell Santner, Mitchell McClenaghan, Adam Milne, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult, Nathan McCullum, Henry Nicholls, Tim Southee

Watch Live score from HERE.

- See more at: http://www.npnewsportal.com/new-zealand-vs-pakistan-icc-t20-cricket-world-cup-2016/#sthash.1PVMWkhl.dpuf