Pakistan Opts to Bat First Against New Zealand in T20 World Cup 2026

COLOMBO – Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat first against New Zealand in the first Super Eights match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the R Premadasa Stadium on Saturday.

Squads:

Pakistan: Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk), Usman Tariq.

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (c), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Cole McConchie.

Head-to-Head:

Pakistan and New Zealand have faced each other 49 times in T20Is. Pakistan leads with 24 wins, while New Zealand has 23 victories and 2 matches ended with no result.

In T20 World Cups, the two teams have met 7 times, with Pakistan leading 5-2. Their last T20 World Cup clash was in the 2022 semi-final, where Pakistan won comfortably by seven wickets.

New Zealand’s last win against Pakistan in the tournament was in 2016, winning by 22 runs.

The match is highly anticipated as both sides look to strengthen their chances in the Super Eights stage.