Big Picture: NZ face unfamiliar opponents
UAE have won just one of their six games at the T20 World Cup, but thanks to the ILT20, most of their players are up to speed with the format. Their captain Muhammad Waseem is a serial six-hitter while Alishan Sharafu can be just as explosive and float in the batting line-up. Left-arm spinner Haider Ali can stifle batters with his accuracy in the powerplay while fast bowler Junaid Siddique can nail yorkers.
UAE beat Bangladesh recently in a bilateral T20I series and gave Pakistan a scare in the Asia Cup. They will be hoping to add more scalps in international cricket.
New Zealand: WLWLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
UAE:LLLWW
In the spotlight: Rachin Ravindra and Muhammad Waseem
If Michael Bracewell, who is nursing a calf injury, doesn’t recover in time, New Zealand will likely stick with seam-bowling allrounder Jimmy Neesham though he conceded 33 runs in his three wicketless overs against Afghanistan. Finn Allen has been cleared to bat but his shoulder niggle has restricted him from throwing properly in the field. On Sunday, he was mostly at short fine leg and only engaged in under-arm throws.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Finn Allen, 2 Tim Seifert (wk), 4 Glenn Phillips, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Mark Chapman, 7 Jimmy Neesham/Michael Bracewell, 8 Mitchell Santner (capt), 9 Matt Henry, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Jacob Duffy
With UAE using Sharafu in the middle order, wicketkeeper-batter Aryansh Sharma will pair up with Waseem at the top. There may be a toss-up between Haider and Simranjeet Singh for the left-arm spinner’s spot.
UAE (probable): 1 Aryansh Sharma (wk), 2 Muhammad Waseem (capt), 3 Muhammad Zohaib, 4 Alishan Sharafu, 5 Harshit Kaushik, 6 Mayank Kumar, 7 Dhruv Parashar, 8 Muhammad Arfan, 9 Haider Ali, 10 Junaid Siddique, 11 Muhammad Jawadullah
The Chennai pitch had some covering of grass on Sunday and offered encouraging bounce in the early exchanges between New Zealand and Afghanistan before providing some grip to the slower bowlers as well. With this being a day game as well – 11 am IST start – the surface is expected to play in similar fashion.
“It comes down to adaptability. We have faced enough bowlers over our time to understand general movements of people’s actions and been around the franchise scene quite a bit.”Glenn Phillips on stepping into the unknown against UAE
