Pakistan vs New Zealand 1st Test : Preview and Predicted Playing XI

With the limited-overs fixtures done and dusted, Both Pakistan and New Zealand are now set to face each other in the longest format of the game in the first Test at Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi from Friday, November 16.

Both teams have played 55 Test matches against each other, with 24 of those have been won by the Men in Green and 10 by the Kiwis with the remaining 21 ending in draws. They have faced each other just once at the Abu Dhabi Stadium in the longest format, back in November 2014 with the hosts emerging victorious by 248 runs.

Pakistan

Pakistan will be the more confident of the two sides ahead of this match as they have won four out of the five completed fixtures on this tour. Meanwhile, Sheikh Sayed Stadium is no less than a fort for the hosts as they have a strong Test record at this ground, having lost just one out of the eleven Tests they have played here.

Batting

Fakhar Zaman has been rested for first two Tests and in his absence, Babar Azam will hold the key in their batting, He was among the leading run-getters in the recently concluded ODI series with 138 runs and will look to carry his ODI momentum into the longest format. While Imam ul Haq impressed everyone in his only outing against Australia and he will be expected to replicate it here.

Azhar Ali has scored 5,303 runs for Pakistan in 67 Tests and boasts of a decent record at this venue with two hundreds and seven fifties in the nine outings. While skipper Sarfraz Ahmed in the middle order has been a key figure in recent times and was the team's best batsman against Aussies with 190 runs. He along with Mohammad Hafeez are expected to give a hard time to opposition bowlers.

Bowling

Mohammad Abbas will be the main threat for Kiwis when it comes to bowling. Abbas is in top form and he was their leading wicket-taker in recently concluded series against Australia with 17 wickets in two games and the onus will be on him to rattle the Kiwis top-order early on.

Bilal Asif was quite impressive in his debut series and got 9 Aussie scalps in two outings. Yasir Shah is the leading wicket-taker in Tests at this ground with 31 wickets in 5 matches and both of them likely to trouble the visitors in both the innings.

Expected Playing XI

Sarfraz Ahmed (C), Bilal Asif, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali, Yasir Shah, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq and Haris Sohail.

New Zealand

New Zealand Cricket Team

Their previous Test assignment was in January 2018 against England. It was a two-match series which the Kiwis managed to end on a winning note. New Zealand won the opening game by an innings and 49 runs and then drew the second game to win the series 1-0.

Batting

Henry Nicholls and Colin de Grandhomme were the key performers in the previous series against Australia with 158 and 146 runs respectively and it will be essential that these two put up a similar performance against the Men in Green.

Skipper Kane Williamson is averaging 50.35 in Tests. The skipper has scored 5,338 runs in 65 test and is ranked third in the ICC Test batting rankings, which makes him the go-to man for New Zealand. While Ross Taylor has scored 6,281 runs in the longest format and also topped the runs charts in the ODI series with 166 runs. He will be eager to start this series off with a good performance.

Bowling

New Zealand's pace attack will rely heavily on veterans Tim Southee and Trent Boult. The two spearheads of the Black Caps bowling unit were the best performers in the two-game series against England as they shared 27 wickets between them. The skipper will once again bank on these two to strike early with the new ball. Aside from the duo, Ish Sodhi who has 38 wickets in 15 Tests, could cause problems for the hosts with his leg-spin.

Expected Playing XI

Kane Williamson (C), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling, Colin de Grandhomme, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Trent Boult, Jeet Raval and Tom Latham.