PAK vs NZ 2nd ODI Match Prediction

PAK vs NZ Team Previews

Pakistan

Pakistan won the toss and chose to field, a massive advantage, but then also bowled very well to restrict the New Zealand batters. Naseem Shah was outstanding and deserved his five wickets but Mohammad Wasim Jr., Mohammad Nawaz, and Usama Mir should not be discounted either. 

New Zealand kept losing wickets at regular intervals and all the bowlers (except for Haris Rauf) were able to keep a tight control of the proceedings. This bowling attack is the reason Pakistan is the favorite going into the second match as well. 

We can quite easily see Naseem Shah causing problems for the New Zealand batters once more and Haris Rauf returning to his best. 

The batting lineup for Pakistan was never troubled by the New Zealand bowlers. Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, and Mohammad Rizwan got fifties while Haris Sohail played an impressive cameo towards the end as well. 

The Pakistani team looks well-settled and in home conditions is going to be quite tough for New Zealand to beat. 

New Zealand

New Zealand may be the number-one-ranked ODI team in the world but it looked quite ordinary in the previous match. Not only were its batters very passive and unwilling to take the game on but it is bowlers were also quite ineffective. 

There is quality in this lineup, no doubt about that, but the conditions are not to their liking. Players like Fin Allen, Devon Conway, and Kane Williamson are obviously capable of scoring runs. The question is whether they can do it in Pakistan against a pretty good attack. On the evidence of what we saw in the previous match, these players could end up struggling. 

Daryl Mitchell looked the best of the batters and can be backed to score some runs. Even Tom Latham and Michael Bracewell batted quite decently. 

More concerning than the batting, for New Zealand, would be its bowling. Henry Shipley, Lockie Ferguson, and Mitchell Santner all failed to pick up a single wicket. They could not make much of an impression on any of the Pakistani batters. If that remains the case in the second game, New Zealand will always end up chasing the game.