Karachi’s National Stadium is ready to host the first of a two-match Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand. This ground recently hosted the Pakistan vs England third Test earlier this week, and the pitch will again play a massive factor in this match as well.
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Nobody expected Pakistan to play in the way they played against England. This is a great opportunity for them to forget what happened and register a victory in this series. The rise of spinner Abrar Ahmed is a great thing for the side, and he would want to continue his good form with the ball in this series as well.
New Zealand will be led by Tim Southee in this series, and it is certain that the formation of this side is mostly suited for pace-friendly wickets. Visiting spinners Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi can play together, and both of them are going to be their backbone on this tour. The batting unit of the visiting side encompasses of some technical players.
PAK vs NZ pitch report
If anything we can take from the last Test at the National Stadium, it is certain that both teams are going to play with a spin-heavy approach as they are likely to dominate the proceedings.
It is certain that attacking intent will only help the teams to score runs or else if the batters keep on defending, one good ball will definitely take their wicket. The first day will be the best one for batting, and it will slowly get even better for the spinners as the days will pass by. Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed and Nauman Ali and England’s Rehan Ahmed and Jack Leach loved bowling here in the third Test.
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It is a proper subcontinent track, where the initial days will be better for batting and the pitch gets worse as the match goes on. Both the captains are likely to opt to bat first here after winning the toss on Monday.