New Zealand batters aim to tame Pakistan spinners
The New Zealand middle-order’s ability to mount a strong response when faced with the guile and variety in Pakistan’s spin unit will be the deciding factor when the two sides face each other in the opening Super Eight Group 2 match of the T20 World Cup on Saturday. The Kiwi batters are yet to hit top gear in the ICC showpiece, except for openers Tim Seifert and Finn Allen, who have three fifties between them.
But their middle-order colleagues have not been able to back them up sufficiently, as the likes of Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell have struggled for consistency. Phillips and Ravindra have fifty each, but they don’t have much to show around overall.
From four matches, Ravindra has made 72 runs, but 59 of them came in a single match against Canada. That they will be playing in Colombo for the first time in this tournament complicates matters further. In contrast, Pakistan have been stationed in this port city since the beginning of the World Cup and have already played two matches at the Premadasa.
Their bowlers, spinners to be particular, know the pace and length required to be effective on this sluggish pitch where shot-making needs more prudence than bravado. Therefore, the New Zealand middle-order should support the Powerplay explosiveness of Allen and Seifert with a mature outing to take their side to a total of around 180 or while chasing a target in that vicinity.
Spinners — Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan — give Pakistan a distinct edge, but they too have their own worries in batting. Shadab Khan (88) is their highest run-getter after Sahibzada Farhan (220), the tournament’s current top run-maker. Pakistan batters will need to make a bigger collective contribution against an experienced outfit like New Zealand.
But none worries the Pakistan management more than Babar Azam (66 runs in four matches, strike-rate: 115.78) as the former skipper is struggling to come to terms with the demands of modern T20 batting. If Babar stumbles one more time, then the Pakistan management might bring in someone like Fakhar Zaman, who warmed the benches throughout the group stage matches.
They will also ponder over the inclusion of left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was dropped for the must-win match against Namibia. Afridi’s three wickets in as many matches have come at an economy of 11.22, an evidence of his inability to employ variations on a slow pitch. His turmoil is a lesson for New Zealand’s pace-heavy attack.
Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Jacob Duffy and James Neesham have been borderline expensive so far, and they will have to mandatorily revisit their strategies here. The quartet needs to use variations such as knuckle ball, slower bouncer and leg cutter, which they employed sporadically in previous matches, more often here to get an upper-hand over Pakistan batters. It’s imperative to reduce pressure on spinners — Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and part-timers Ravindra and Phillips.
