Pallekele: Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez on Sunday won the toss and elected to bat first against New Zealand here at Pallekele.
After winning the toss Mohammad Hafeez said, “Pakistan will bat. The four players Pakistan have left out are Mohammad Sami, Raza Hasan, Abdul Razzaq and Asad Shafiq. So Yasir Arafat is playing ahead of Razzaq.”
Taylor, the Kiwi’s skipper, says “this pitch seems a bit drier than the one they played on against Bangladesh. New Zealand have brought in the fast bowler Adam Milne to replace the injured Martin Guptill.”
However, Pakistan have better statistics against the Kiwis in the shorter format of the game but the black caps defeated Pakistan when both the team met at the same venue during ICC World Cup 2011.
The Kiwis are confident as they defeated Bangladesh in their opening game with great margin.
Analysts say that the real contest will be between the World no 1 spinner Saeed Ajmal and Brendon McCullum, who scored a ton against the Bengal tigers in opening match of the championship.
Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistan’s skipper, on Saturday said that the team is confident to win the opening game, adding that he is satisfied with preparation of his guys.
Few games in the event have already been affected by the rain and the local met office has predicted that the shower can spoil the match.
The game will start at 15:30 local time (15:00PM Pakistan).
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