Devon Conway for New Zealand (Source: @balltamperrer/X.com)
Devon Conway has been one of the most reliable batters for New Zealand in the last few years, and he is expected to play a big part in New Zealand's success in the coming days. However, the Kiwis have decided to not play the southpaw in the opening ODI of the tri-series against Pakistan as the visitors won the toss and decided to bat first.
The reason for New Zealand going without Devon Conway is the rise of Will Young and Rachin Ravindra in the last year or so. Both of them have performed consistently while Conway has not played an ODI since the semifinal against India in 2023 World Cup. He has not been in best of form in other formats too, and the management has decided to go with in-form players and honour the performance of other players.
Kane Williamson Back In ODIs for New Zealand
Also, Kane Williamson is back for New Zealand and as he would bat at three, they needed to take a tough decision of dropping Conway to accommodate both Will Young and Rachin Ravindra. It could be an experiment for just one or couple of games to see how Will Young goes about his business, and Conway might make his way back into the side in the upcoming games.
New Zealand would be hoping that their batting group delivers on the flat deck in Lahore and scored over 300 to put Pakistan under pressure. For the home team, Babar Azam will open and Khushdil Shah is back in the team with the pace trio of Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah forming the core of bowling attack. It promises to be a cracking game and let's see who starts of the series win.
 "Aashay Chopade")
