The New Zealand captain, Mitchell Santner, won the raffle and chose to hit Pakistan in the inaugural match of a series of tri-nation in LaHore on Saturday.
The match takes place in the recently renewed Gaddafi Stadium, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last night in a dazzling ceremony with musical performances.
New Zealand Fast Bowling Player, Lockie Ferguson, was discarded from the game with an lesion in the hamstrings.
South Africa is the third team in the event, seen as a warm -up for the eight -nations champions trophy in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates as of February 19.
Each team plays two games before the two best compete in the final in Karachi on February 14.
Although Pakistan has recently had problems on international and T20 test fronts, they have been a force to take into account in the international format of a day, in which the Tri-Nation series and the Champions Trophy will be played, winning three series in a trot towards the end of last year.
However, Pakistan’s team for the Tri-Nation series and the next extravagance of eight teams has asked questions, with the selections of all Roderators Faheem Ashraf and Khushdil Shah.
So much so that there have been speculation that Pakistan will make changes in the Champion Trophy squad before the deadline of February 12, the day they face South Africa in their Tri-Nation series.
Mohammad Rizwan clarified a press conference yesterday: “The team that has been announced is against everyone, and there is no such thing that we make changes to it.”
“We have a game tomorrow, and we have three to four days, but it is not necessary that we are not happy with our team or that we need to think about the changes.”
Equipment
Pakistan: Mohammad Rizwan (Captain), Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Tayyab Tahir, Salman Agha, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Shah Aphridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abar Ahmed
New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (Captain), Rachin Ravindra, Will Young, Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Matt Henry, Ben Sears, Will O’Rourke
Referees: Faisal Afridi (Pak) and Michael Gough (ENG)
TV Umpir: Richard Illingworth (ENG)
Party referee: David Boon (Aus)
