Pakistan to bowl first against New Zealand in third ODI

New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell (Left) and Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan (Right) during the toss ahead of second ODI at Seddon Park in Hamilton on April 2, 2025. - PCB

MOUNT MAUNGANUI: Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl first against New Zealand in the third and final ODI at Bay Oval on Saturday.

Earlier, the toss for the final ODI of the three-match series was delayed owing to the wet outfield as Mount Maunganui was lashed by continuous rain overnight.

The umpires reached in the stadium and conducted an initial inspection of the pitch at 11am local time and decided to postpone the toss. They however made a follow-up assessment of the pitch 45 minutes later and decided to hold the toss around 12:15 pm.

The match will commence at 12:45pm local time. The match has been reduced to 42 overs each side.

Before the match, cricketer Faheem Ashraf voiced his sentiments about the team's performance so far. "When you score some runs, you will definitely enjoy. But if we lose the match, we don't properly enjoy it. But I wish we were happy when I score runs and our team wins."

The cricketer said that this time is more difficult for the batters, adding that it was also difficult for the batters in December-January.

"Everyone's hoping for a win today, and we finish the series on a good note," he added.

New Zealand have already secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and will be eyeing to secure s whitewash victory over Pakistan.

Pakistan, on the other hand, will try to avoid a clean sweep by securing their first victory in the country since February 2011.

According to New Zealand Cricket (NZC), their in-form middle-order batter Mark Chapman has been ruled out for today's match.

The left-handed batter, who also missed the second ODI due to a hamstring injury, was assessed during the home side’s training session for the upcoming fixture which revealed that he had not recovered sufficiently.

As a result, Tim Seifert, who was called in as Chapman’s replacement for the second ODI in Hamilton, will stay with the squad for the upcoming fixture.

After the Green Shirts suffered 84-run loss in the second ODI at Seddon Park on Wednesday, Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan said: “It is sore, but it’s part of the game. We didn’t do well today. We didn’t utilise the swing effectively, and New Zealand bowled very well."

“The bowlers of New Zealand were very disciplined; they bowled the hard lengths. In the last couple of months, we’ve lost key moments. Today, we didn’t perform well with the ball or the bat in the first 10 overs. Credit to Mitch Hay as well; the way he batted was amazing,” Rizwan said.

“We don’t know much about the pitch in Tauranga, but we’ll have to adapt.”

Playing XIs:

Pakistan: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, Sufiyan Muqeem, Akif Javed.

New Zealand: Nick Kelly, Tim Siefert, Rhys Mariu, Henry Nicholls, Daryl Mitchell, Michael Bracewell (c), Muhammad Abbas, Mitchell Hay (w), Jacob Duffy, Ben Sears, William O’Rourke.

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