Pakistan is hosting the New Zealand cricket team for a five-match T20I and a five-match ODI series across three venues: Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi.

In the absence of captain Kane Williamson who has been ruled out from IPL and Pakistan tour with a knee injury, Tom Latham who last played T20Is in 2021, returned to lead the team in both formats.

Some regular members of the New Zealand squad are not included due to their Indian Premier League (IPL) engagements.

Pakistan have named full-strength squads for both the ODI and T20I series. Regular captain Babar Azam is back in the side and so are his opening partner wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan and leading bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf. They were all given rest for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan last month that Pakistan lost by 1-2.

New Zealand, meanwhile, have been forced to name a severely depleted squad with most of their first-choice players occupied in the IPL.

In September 2021, the Black Caps had arrived in the country after 18 years to play a series, but pulled out of the tour just before the start of the first ODI citing a security threat.

Then New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson also condemned the withdrawal of his team stating that it was a “real shame” that the Kiwis abandoned their first tour of Pakistan in 18 years.

To compensate for that withdrawal, Kiwis will be playing extra games on this tour.

This is the second time they are touring Pakistan in the space of five months. Across last December and January, they played two Tests that ended 0-0, followed by a three-match ODI series that New Zealand won 2-1.

New Zealand will be confident in the experience they gained in their ODI series.

Regarding the tour of Pakistan, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead accepted that Green-shirts are “a tough team no matter where you take them on”.

“The successful ODI series earlier this year in Pakistan provided big learning opportunities for the players and having more ODI match experience will be fantastic for the preparation of the World Cup year,” Gary said.

Former Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq has joined the New Zealand camp as an assistant coach for the tour. Saqlain’s experience is a big boost for the Kiwis. “We are looking forward to the insights he can offer us to aid our preparations for local conditions, and in particular the assistance he can provide to our spin bowling group,” Stead said.

Nine players in the squad played in the recent series in Pakistan, featuring in either the Test or ODI squads.

It will be a challenge for the young New Zealand players as conditions are quite different here from New Zealand and young players will gain a different experience.

Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are the two most successful batters of the Pakistan team at number 2 and number 3 position in the ICC T20 player ranking table, respectively. So, it will not be an easy job for New Zealand bowlers to stop these two.

In the last five years, Babar has scored the most runs for the Men in Green against New Zealand with 303 runs in eight innings.

Former Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is in second place with 283 runs. Rizwan is in third place with 272 runs.

Currently, in One-day Internationals, New Zealand are at the 3rd position while Pakistan are 5th.

In the shortest format of the game, Pakistan are 3rd while New Zealand are 5th.

In terms of head-to-head in ODIs Pakistan are slightly ahead of the Kiwis, having won 56 matches, while New Zealand won 50.

Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is the most successful batsmen in ODIs between Pakistan and New Zealand. He scored 1,283 runs in 45 matches at an average of 34.67 with one hundred and nine half-centuries. Inzamam’s 137 off 129 balls in Sharjah is the highest individual score.

On the bowling side, former skipper Waqar Younis leads the wicket-taking charts, with 79 wickets in just 37 matches. The fast bowler recorded five five-wicket hauls against the Kiwis in these 37 matches. Shoaib Akhtar is the only other bowler to have done it twice.

Shoaib Akhtar’s 6-16 in Karachi back in 2002 remains the best bowling performance against the Black Caps from any Pakistan bowler. Shoaib’s explosive spell bowled out New Zealand for just 122 runs while chasing 276.

New Zealand’s 369-5 in Napier is the highest team total so far. Ross Taylor (102 off 70 balls) and Kane Williamson (112 off 88 balls) scored centuries in that match.

Four of the top five lowest team totals in this bilateral have come from New Zealand. The Kiwis were bowled out for 64 in 35.5 overs at Sharjah in 1986, when former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir picked up four wickets and a young Wasim Akram returned with three wickets.

Pakistan and New Zealand have played 28 T20Is. New Zealand won 11 matches and faced defeat in 17 matches.

Pakistan’s 201-4 at Auckland in 2018 is the highest T20I score. New Zealand managed 196-5 — their best - in Wellington in 2016.

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