Pakistan takes on New Zealand in the fourth T20I in Christchurch looking to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat. They have already lost the series losing the first three games. The fourth game starts at 11.40 am IST on Friday, January 19.
Pakistan T20I skipper Shaheen Afridi did not have the best of starts to his T20I captaincy career. He must win the next two games to finish the series on a high leading into the T20 World Cup 2024.
Pakistan have started the new year with back-to-back defeats and the losses have piled up the agony on the team. In two of the first three games, the bowlers leaked over 200 runs, and heading into the fourth T20I, the bowling attack remains the major concern.
Shaheen and Haris Rauf as specialist pacers need to take more responsibility with the new ball. The lack of an experienced spinner is costing the team after Usama Mir could not do much with the chances given to him.
Batting-wise, Pakistan needs runs from Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan was retained as the opener but is yet to score a fifty in the series. Bababar Azam has scored three consecutive fifties but there has been nothing much from the batters above and below him.
Also Read: PAK vs NZ Today Match Prediction- 4th T20I, Who Will Win Today’s T20I Match? 2024
Mohammad Nawaz came in for Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr for Abbas Afridi and Zaman Khan came in for the injured Abbas Afridi. The inclusion of the three players certainly bolsters the Pakistan playing XI but the boalers need to deliver.
Heading into the fourth T20I, the team is likely to stick with the same XI as per reports and back them to deliver in the final two matches.
Pakistan Playing 11 vs New Zealand – 4th T20I, 2024
Saim Ayub
Saim Ayub will open the batting for Pakistan. He scored 1 and 10 in the last two games for his side and needs to deliver for his team in the fourth T20I. Ayub is yet to score a T20i fifty.
Mohammad Rizwan
Rizwan will stick to opening the batting. He scored 7 and 24 in the last two matches. Pakistan needs a big innings from him in the last two matches. The keeper-batter will play as a specialist batter in the side.
Babar Azam
Babar will bat at three. He scored three consecutive fifties in the series so far. He is also the third-highest scorer in the format with 3666 runs from 107 matches with three hundreds and 33 fifties.
Fakhar Zaman
Fakhar Zaman will bat at four. He scored 50 in the second T20I and just 19 in the third T20I. He is another senior batter in the side but has not scored runs consistently. He has played 94 T20Is and inching close to 1600 runs in the format.
Azam Khan (WK)
Azam Khan will slot in at five. He scored two and 10 in the last two games. He has displayed a lot of potential with the bat in the PSL but could not translate it into international cricket yet.
Iftikhar Ahmed
Iftikhar will bat at six. He is a hard-hitter in the lineup but has not scored too many runs in the first two games. He scored 4 in the second T20I and just one in the third. Iftikhar has played 52 T20Is and not scored 1000 runs as yet.
Mohammad Nawaz
Nawaz will slot in at seven. He replaced Usmana Mir in the lineup and took 1 for 44 and scored 28 runs with the bat. His batting at seven extends Pakisan’s batting lineup as he is a lower-order hitter.
Shaheen Afridi
Afridi has been expensive in the first three games going for 119 runs at an average of 29.75 and took just four wickets. He needs to lead by example with the ball.
Haris Rauf
Haris too has been expensive going for 132 runs at an average of 18.86 having taken seven wickets. He too needs to be less expensive with the ball.
Mohammad Wasim Jr
Wasim will be the third pacer in the XI. He came in for Aamer Jamal who was pretty expensive in the first two games. He took 1 for 35 in the third T20I.
Zaman Khan
Zaman Khan concludes the likely playing XI for Pakistan in the fourth T20I. He took 1 for 37 with the ball in the third T20I. So far in seven T20s he has picked five wickets.
