After a sensational start of the tournament with three win in a row, Pakistan will today face the New Zealand at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Kandy in Sri Lanka. Pakistan is the only team in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 who have not lost any match or point. They are right on the top of the table with three wins and 6 points. While New Zealand has won two games against Kenya and Zimbabwe but lost a match against Australia. At present the New Zealand team is on the fourth position of the Group A table.
Looking at the Pakistan team, the team has won all their matches in the World cup 2011 against Sri Lanka, Kenya and Canada, though their opener batsmen Mohammed Hafees and Ahmed Shehzad have failed to provide the Pakistan team a better start. While most of the time runs flowed from the brilliance of their Middle order batsmen Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan and also by the Akmal brothers. As far as bowling is concerned Pakistani skipper Shahid Afridi has been in an outstanding performance, who played a major role in all the three victories of the team. Though Shahid Afridi has not scored many runs with the bat, but he is the top wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets in three matches. He played an stunning role in their last win against Canada, where he took 5 wickets to win the match and also restricted a low score of 184 runs. Pacers Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq experiences will be tested today against New Zealand, who have won their two matches with 10 wickets.
The Kiwis are looking outstanding in their all-round performances. New Zealand had a marvelous start against the Kenya and Zimbabwe, where they won both the matches by 10 wickets. Pacers Hamish Bennett, Tim Southee and Kyle Mills have been in an good form from the start of the tournament. Though the New Zealanders have failed against Australia, where they struggled with pacers Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson. However, Nathan McCullum and Daniel Vettori showed outstanding all-round performance in the match. The New Zealand team showed a great comeback beating Zimbabwean with 10 wickets, where the opener batsmen Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum played a amazing match winning innings.
But the question is will the New Zealand batsmen be able to face the Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz as they struggled with the Australian pacers. And also will they be able to face the Pakistani spin attack from Shahid Afridi, who is top wicket taker in the tournament.
New Zealand has not won a single match against Pakistan in World Cup in the last six matches. Will they be able to beat Pakistan in the today's game???
Will Pakistan team be able to continue their winning streak???
