Toss: New Zealand chose to bat v Pakistan
New Zealand have decided to bat after winning the toss in Dubai. In a game his side must win to remain in contention for the series, Kane Williamson had no hesitation about his decision to put runs on the board on what appeared to be a good pitch. To take the series to the decider, the visitors will have to break Pakistan’s streak of seven consecutive T20I wins. They go into the game unchanged.
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed agreed he would have batted too had he won the toss, but said he was confident restricting New Zealand to under 150 would give his players a good chance of chasing them down. Pakistan are bolstered by the return of Fakhar Zaman at the top of the order after recovering from a knee injury, with Sahibzada Farhan making way.
Pakistan: 1 Babar Azam, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Mohammad Hafeez, 4 Shoaib Malik, 5 Asif Ali, 6 Sarfraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Imad Wasim, 9 Shadab Khan, 10 Hasan Ali, 11 Shaheen Afridi
New Zealand: 1 Colin Munro, 2 Glenn Phillips (wk), 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Colin de Grandhomme, 5 Ross Taylor, 6 Corey Anderson, 7 Tim Seifert (wk), 8 Tim Southee, 9 Adam Milne, 10 Ish Sodhi, 11 Ajaz Patel