PAK vs NZ, 1st T20I | Gaddafi Stadium Pitch Report

image-lggi1tjlNew Zealand's white-ball tour of Pakistan starts on April 14 (Source: Twitter) 

Pakistan are all set to host New Zealand in a white-ball tour, comprising five T20Is and as many ODIs. The tour starts with the T20I leg on April 14 with the first three matches scheduled at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Pakistan will take motivation from the fact that their star players return to the squad for the New Zealand T20I series. Their last three shortest-format encounters versus Afghanistan ended in a 2-1 series defeat, however, it must be noted that the likes of Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf and Fakhar Zaman were rested in those fixtures.

As for New Zealand, they will head to the subcontinent nation with a second-string side as most of their key players are busy playing a T20 league in Pakistan's neighbouring country India. Despite the unavailability of their stars, the Kiwis provided a testament to their formidability in the recent series win at home against Sri Lanka.


Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Pitch Report 

In a total of 18 T20Is played at this venue, teams batting first and bowling first have won nine games apiece. Though the stat discards the toss advantage, it cannot be said if we look at what happened in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023.

Out of nine PSL 2023 games played in Lahore, only once did the chasing team emerge victorious. Therefore, if the recent trend is to be believed, the pitch will get slower with the progression of the game.

The average first-innings score here is around 170 and in PSL 2023 it took a jump of nearly 15 more runs, taking the average first-innings score to 185.

With fresh pitch on offer, it is expected that batters will maintain their upper hand over the bowlers.