The match of Pakistan vs New Zealand will take place in Argentina within a few hours. It is a great tragedy that India and Pakistan have to take part in Hockey Champions Challenge tournament. This tournament is for second class countries in field hockey.
For live score and updates of the match, visit this entry:
Together, India and Pakistan have the most number of Olympic Gold Medals. Well, it is a thing of the past now. Unfortunately, both the countries have lost their dominance even in Asian region to South Korea.
In the semi finals, Pakistandefeated their arch rivals India by 6-3. On the other hand, New Zealand defeated host Argentina by 3-2.
So, tonight, Pakistan and New Zealand will play to become the champion of this event. Both of these two countries will try their best to win because winning matters a lot. Whoever wins will qualify for next Champions Trophy. Pakistan looks to be favorite team to win against New Zealand. However, you should not take the Kiwis lightly because they defeated the host country. It means that they have something in them. However, I think that Pakistan will win the match in the end.
To get information about Live TV information visit this link:
Pakistan cricket team is going to New Zealand to play 3 Test matches. For this matter, the selectors have announced a 17-member team. The notable player who is going to be absent is Younus Khan who was the captain of the team until last week. Earlier this month, Pakistan played a 3-match ODI series against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi. They lost against the Kiwis and it made Younus Khan to resign as a captain. After that, he decided that he would not go to New Zealand and take some rest to get back his batting form. I think that without him, Pakistani batting line up will be some weak.
New Zealand is a very tough place to play. They have some quality bowlers who can become very dangerous in home soil. So, I am sure that Pakistan will miss an experienced player like Younus Khan. Now, Mohammad Yousuf has been made as the captain. He has also a lot of experience and he is a good batsman. So, the fans are expecting that he can inspire his team to do something extra ordinary in the New Zealand tour.
Pakistan Squad: Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Abdur Rauf, Umer Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmad.
After two dominating performances in the first two games, first from Pakistan, then from New Zealand, both teams are going to face each other in the third and the final match of the three-match ODI series on 9 November 2009 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Naturally, it is a series deciding game and both sides would be determined to win the game. On both sides, you can find some match winners who can steal the show by themselves. Cricket fans may not be very happy on the fact that neither of the first two games of the series was exciting as the winning side dominated throughout the first two games. So, fans are expecting a highly exciting game in the final match.
Match: Pakistan vs New Zealand; 2nd ODI; Three-match ODI Series 2009
Date: 9November 2009
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Pakistan got off to a flying start in the series with a 138-run victory in the first match, but the Kiwis bounced back in the series by clinching a 64-run win in the second game. Now, the third match will decide who will win the series. Inconsistency is a traditional problem for Pakistan as it was seen once again in the series. The way they dominated in the first game, it looked really very awkward to see them losing the very next game in this manner.
Pakistan is undoubtedly under huge pressure for their poor performance in the second game. The team management has faced huge criticism for excluding in-form middle order batsmen Umar Akmal who made way for former Captain Shoaib Malik. Former Pakistan legend Abdul Qadir was one of them who came down hard on Pakistan team management for dropping the 19-year-old.
“How can you drop a batsman when he has impressed all around the world with his brilliant temperament?” said the leg-spin great.
“It will only shatter his confidence and we might lose such a talented player if he continuously gets such treatment in the team.”
Moreover, Pakistan captain Younus Khan is also under huge pressure with growing concern for his recent bad patch. The middle order batsman failed in the first two games of the series. His pressure has been intensified as there is a strong claim in Pakistan to make take away the captaincy from him and appoint Shahid Afridi as the new captain of Pakistan ODI squad. Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq has said that Afridi should be appointed as Pakistan captain till the 2011 world cup.
"I think after becoming Twenty20 captain Shahid has shown that he has become more mature and responsible as a player also," Inzamam said.
Naturally, it has come as an added pressure for the veteran batsman who led Pakistan to win the Twenty20 world cup this year. On the other hand, Afridi is also determined to take more responsibility of the team, following his appointment as Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain recently.
Now, ahead of the crunch game, Pakistan team is now facing a selection dilemma as they have to choose between Shoaib Malik and Umar Akmal. It is a tough decision because former skipper Malik has been in good form too recently and it would be easy to drop someone with so much experience for the sake of a young batsman. To be honest, I admit that Umar Akmal has a huge talent and potential, but I do not think that it would be fair to exclude a proven performer like Shoaib Malik only to include Umar Akmal whose career is still in its infancy. If Pakistan wants to do so, it will create a bizarre feeling among the senior cricketers of the side who have been performing for the team for years. Pakistan team management should know the fact that a country may have hundreds of talented cricketers, but you would not find hundreds of Abdul Qadir or Wasim Akram in a country. Experience always matters at this level. I think, such exclusions will only increase Umar Akmal’s strive for doing better and make him a better player. In fact, many great players went through this kind of situation during their early career.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is highly delighted with the way his team came back in the series. He said that New Zealand had put on a ‘conscious effort’ and now he wants to keep the pressure on Pakistan team in the third match. However, he has also warned his teammates about a possible backlash from Pakistan who are well-known for doing well in the crunch games.
"We look for more improvement and make sure that we head into this final game with more confidence and put more pressure on Pakistan," said Vettori, whose team finished runners-up to Australia in the Champions Trophy last month.
"We did well throughout the Champions Trophy as most of the games we played were must win games and we stepped up, so I hope the team does it one more time."
"Pakistan can come back hard on us, so we must be ready for that, but I think there's something left for us as lot of guys who, I suppose, need to perform on this tour and those who have performed need to do that once more."
New Zealand was excellent in the second game in all three departments. Top order batsmen got runs, especially out-of-form Brendon McCullum scored his second century. The most importantly, maturity was seen in his batting. Ross Taylor’s recent form may create some worry for Vettori, but New Zealand squad has an excellent balance mainly because of the presence of three all rounders Scott Styris, Jacob Oram and Daniel Vettori. Pacers got some success in both the games, while Vettori’s left arm spin has been terrific as usual.
Pakistan bowling line up is very strong too. Spin department comprising of Ajmal and Afridi is always a threat for the opposition, while their pace trio Aamer, Gul and Razzaq have got success in the series. I just could not understand why Younis Khan did not use Malik’s off spin in the second match. Malik has been handy with his off spin and he is an effective all rounder and he has proven his all rounder ability in the past. Younis and Yousuf have not made their presence felt in the series so far. Naturally, they will be determined to play big innings in the series decider, and thus, making an useful contribution to Pakistan’s series win. Afridi and Kamran Akmal already showed their ability against the New Zealand bowlers in the series and they would like to repeat that in the third game too.
Online Live Score and Updates
Here, I am giving some live score and updates websites from where you can get the live score of the match:
Cricinfo
Stickiewicket
thatscricket
Cricket Next
action8cricket
The final match of the series seems to offer some exciting cricket actions with both sides being desperate to win the game. I do not see any side favorite for the game. It is true that Pakistan will get the support of the local crowd, but New Zealand is full of confidence after their victory in the previous match. Overall, the third match could be a very close affair and both sides have enough chances to win the game as well as the series.
After posting a comprehensive victory in the first ODI, Pakistan is going to face New Zealand in the second match of the three-match ODI series on 6 November 2009. The match is very important because this could decide the series. Pakistan will be looking to build on their 138-run victory in the first game and continue their winning momentum. New Zealand will be definitely trying to bounce back in the series winning the next game at Abu Dhabi.
Match: Pakistan vs New Zealand; 1st ODI; Three-match ODI Series 2009
The confidence level is pretty much high in Pakistan camp after their inspirational performance in the first game. Most importantly, the way they came back in the match after poor start in the game indicates the determination of the squad. Pakistan failed to live up to the expectation of their fans in Champions Trophy and perhaps that is why they are more determined to do well in the series in what would be an excellent compensation for their fans. New Zealand was on high as they reached the final of Champions Trophy. In fact, they did have a very good start in the first game too, but the Kiwis failed to capitalize on that start.
The good thing is that Pakistani middle order played an excellent role behind their coming back in the game. At one point, Pakistan was struggling after losing 4 wickets at 75, but opener Khalid Latif’s 64 and later on Afridi’s 50-ball 70 and Kamran Akmal’s 43-ball 67 guided Pakistan to a commanding total of 287 after 50 overs. New Zealand actually lost the game during the slog overs of the Pakistan innings as they conceded around 100 runs in the last 10 overs. New Zealand batsmen must take the responsibility of the team’s humiliating defeat. Except Redmond and Vettori, no other New Zealand batsmen could show enough resistance against Pakistani bowlers. Ryder’s absence was fully felt by the Kiwis. No doubt, New Zealand batsmen must player at their best, if New Zealand wants to come back in the series winning the second match.
New Zealand pacer Tim Southee was very happy after being recalled to the ODI team. However, the pacer was not very happy with the performance of his team.
The 20-year-old was happy to be back in the limited overs saddle for the Black Caps, but said the end result was less than ideal.
“It was a disappointing result, but it started off probably as good as any game,” Southee told NZPA today.
Pakistan has a very strong bowling attack in the presence of young pacer Mohammad Aamer and experienced pacers like Umar Gul and Abdul Razzaq, besides a dominating spin attack featuring Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal. Specially, Ajmal dominated over the Kiwi batsmen and did not let any batsmen go after him. I do not think that Pakistan would bring any change in their winning combination for the second match.
To be honest, I think, Pakistan has a very balanced squad and presence of all rounder Abdul Razzaq has helped to bring the much-needed balance in the squad. There is enough reason for captain Younis Khan, who faced huge criticism following Pakistan’s failure in the Champions trophy, to be happy with the performance of his side, more specifically with his batsmen. I am sure Younis would now be more interested to come back to Twenty20 international, having experienced the performance of Pakistan team. You know that he announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket after the Twenty20 world cup triumph, but the batsman recently expressed his desire to come back in the shortest version of the game.
‘If the team needs me and since [the] matches are to be held [here] in Dubai, it will be nice to play,’ Younus remarked here on Saturday.
I would not say that all the Pakistani top order fared well in the first game. Specially, the pressure is now on opener Salman Butt, because he failed another chance to come of out of his bad patch in the game. I think, Butt would not like to miss another chance now and try to play a big score in the second match. Younus himself got out without getting off the mark, and Pakistani fans now expect a big score from him in the coming matches. Young talented Umar Akmal did not get run in the series, but he has been in good form recently, and I think, he could be play a crucial part for Pakistan in the second game.
Online Live Score and Updates
Here, I am giving some live score websites from where you can get the live score and updates of the match:
Cricinfo
Stickiewicket
Cricket Next
thatscricket
action8cricket
Pakistan is absolutely favorite, given the condition of Abu Dhabi and the kind of support Pakistan has over there. Most importantly, they are now pretty much confident. However, you know that Vettori and his boys know it very well how to make a strong come back as they did in Champions Trophy. So, Pakistan would make a big mistake, if they sit back, thinking that New Zealand would let them win the match without giving any hard challenge. In fact, Pakistan should remember that they had a poor start in the first game, even though they got over the early setback and came back successfully. New Zealand also has a very good squad and they have a captain like Vettori who can lead from the front. So, I think, cricket fans can expect a highly entertaining match.
Ten Sports claims that it is the most viewed sports TV channel in South Asia. May be they are right because if you want to see Pakistan vs New Zealand ODI series 2009 live then it is the TV channel for you. It has the TV rights of cricket matches to be played in Sri Lanka and Pakistan in South Asia. Ten Sports also telecast UEFA Champions League matches live. You can find WWE wresting in South Asia in this channel only. So, if you want to watch the match of Pakistan and New Zealand that is going to start within 30 minutes, then you know where to tune in.
South Asia is a very attractive region for TV companies. Until few years ago, ESPN and Star Sports were most popular. About popularity of this channel, Wikipedia wrote:
Recent viewing data shows that the channel enjoys over 50% share of viewing of sports channels in India and the pattern is repeated across the region.
Ten Sports has acquired exclusive rights in various regions for many exciting sporting properties, including all international cricket matches from Pakistan, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, West Indies and also venues such as Dubai Sports city, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. It also covers all the premier hockey tournaments of FIH, US Open and Indian Open tennis, the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and 500 series; UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and other league football from the Netherlands and Scotland; the PGA Championship, the European, US and Indian PGA Tours; some of the richest horse races in the world, the MotoGP, as well as the sports-entertainment spectacle - World Wrestling Entertainment.
You already perhaps know that no cricket team is now interested to come to Pakistan because security problem. This problem is not going to solve in near future. UAE is becoming the home venue for Pakistan cricket team. For New Zealand fans, the series is taking place at very bad time. For example, the first ODI of today will start from 11 PM. That means that very few fans will be able to watch the match. Well, a very big problem of New Zealand is that it is in opposite time zone of Dubai.
So, watch the match live at Ten Sports TV channel today.
