T20 World Cup: New Zealand v Pakistan Preview and Tips

By Aidan Smyth

(Best Bets at the bottom)

New Zealand have impressed so far in this tournament, particularly the demolition of Australia in the first game. They lost to England, but their pace bowling really let them down in that game, all going at above 10 runs an over.

Pakistan on the other hand have flown under the radar, it looked for all money like India and South Africa would qualify until the latter had a shock defeat to Netherlands, opening the door for Pakistan to leapfrog them and take their place in the semifinal.

When you compare the form of the two sides it looks as though their will only be one winner, if New Zealand’s seamers can perform, they will have a massive chance of progressing here. Trent Boult is one of the worlds very best as he showed with his 4-13 against Sri Lanka and Lockie Ferguson showed signs of form against Ireland in their last game, with 3-22, and I fancy NZ at 4/5 to see off Pakistan here.

With the bat, New Zealand have been solid. Conway and Allen showed form at the start of the campaign, with 92 for Conway and 40 off 16 for Allen against Australia. Since then, Phillips has been the star for NZ, his magnificent century against Sri Lanka was arguably the best knock of the tournament so far, and Williamson got in on the act with a classy 61 against Ireland to back up his 40 against England.

Williamson has a great record against Pakistan, he’s had 5 half centuries and averages over 35 against the semifinal opposition. The New Zealand captain is a big game player, as he showed last year in the t20 final, with a magnificent 85 in defeat. Williamson is 7/2 to top score for New Zealand, 13/2 to be top scorer in the match and 12/1 to be player of the match, all of these represent great value to me.

For Pakistan, the batsmen have been disappointing. Coming into the tournament it was evident that Pakistan were going to rely on the top 2 to score the majority of the runs, and it is somewhat a surprise that they’ve made it this far without either of the batsmen firing. It would be typical of 2 of the worlds best however to turn up when it really matters, and I fully expect one of them to top score for Pakistan. Babar Azam has a terrific record against New Zealand and he would be my selection, he averages just shy of 45 against the black caps and has scored 3 50’s in 10 innings, 3/1 with paddy power seems incredible value for someone with such a terrific record against Wednesdays opposition.

For Pakistan with the ball I’m looking towards the seamers. Every New Zealand game so far, has seen a seamer take the most wickets for the opposition. Shaheen Afridi has taken 7 wickets in his last 2 matches, and at 3/1 he seems to be good value.

Best Bets

New Zealand to win - 4/5

Kane Williamson top NZ batsman - 7/2

Kane Williamson top match batsman - 13/2

Kane Williamson player of the match - 12/1

Babar Azam top Pakistan batsman - 3/1

Babar Azam top Pakistan/Kane Williamson top NZ batsman - 16/1

Shaheen Afridi top Pakistan bowler - 3/1