ICC T20 World Cup 2016: New Zealand vs Pakistan - 5 Talking Points
New Zealand have become the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the World T20 after another dominating display against Pakistan. Kane Williamson the skipper won the toss and elected to bat, and Martin Guptill came out swinging and smashed 80 of 48 balls. A late boost by Luke Ronchi and Ross Taylor helped New Zealand post a competitive score of 180.Also read: Afghanistan vs England, ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Where to watch live, prediction, preview and live streaming informationPakistan has been found wanting with chasing totals for quite some time now and they were under pressure right from the outset. Sharjeel Khan came out like a house on fire and plundered the Kiwi bowlers all over. He smashed 47 runs of 26 balls, but his dismissal stalled the chase. They failed to find the boundary in the last 5.1 overs. Shahid Afridi promoted himself and played like he knows to play, but his stay was brief, and his dismissal resulted in momentum being sucked out of the chase. The boundaries were very hard to come by and the result was a foregone conclusion. Pakistan are all but out of the tournament, but now they will have to beat Australia and wish other results go their way. After the start Pakistan will believe they lost it more than New Zealand winning it.
#1 The surface in Mohali
New Zealand have played on two dry surfaces that aided spin. But they were up for a surprise when a greenish pitch welcomed them. They, however, were not carried away with it and went in with the same squad.
There was definite pace in the surface, but the presence of bare patches helped spinners too, and both Mohammad Sami and Ish Sodhi were the best bowlers for their sides.
However the pitch did help strokeplay and both Martin Guptill and Sharjeel Khan went for their shots with conviction and the true bounce and pace also helped them. The bowlers too enjoyed with the faster bowlers enjoying zip of the surface and the spinners got fair grip. It was a good cricketing surface, and after the low and slow wickets in Nagpur and Dharmashala this was a refreshing change.