Why Pakistan no longer trusts Babar Azam | T20 World Cup 2026
Chapman’s answer sums up the way New Zealand play their cricket. No fuss, no drama, just straight to the point.After three matches in Chennai and one in Ahmedabad, all on red-soil pitches, the Kiwis had just one practice session to acclimatise to the conditions ahead of their first Super Eight match against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Did they look worried?
None of them rushed to the field to get a closer look. After the warm-up, the players moved to the indoor nets. About an hour later, Daryl Mitchell came out barefoot to explore the surface and spent a good fifteen minutes studying every inch from 22 yards.Chapman, who didn’t make it to the surface, left it up to the senior management group.“In the subcontinent, the draw always plays a role depending on the conditions. I haven’t seen the pitch yet so I don’t really know what it looks like. There will be discussions behind the scenes with the senior management group about what we want to do,” he said.The black pitches in Colombo help the spinners and with bigger boundaries and a slower pitch, they present a new challenge for the T20 World Cup 2021 finalists.“We haven’t played Sri Lanka yet. A lot of the lads in our team have played a lot of cricket here so I don’t think it’s too much of a factor. The lads understand what they have to do and we’re confident we’ll face whatever conditions are in front of us,” said Chapman, whose knees were heavily bandaged.“In India, especially on the red clay pitches, the batting conditions were favourable. It was tough for the bowlers and the margins were very small. We regularly saw scores close to 200.”“It’s a bit different here with the slower nature of the pitches. The bowlers will be hoping to get a chance to show their skills and the spinners are likely to play a role here,” he added.
It is played in the same place
Although Pakistan are based in Sri Lanka, they played their group matches at two different venues in Colombo.New Zealand will be the only team to play all their Super Eight matches at the same venue, taking on Pakistan on February 21, Sri Lanka on February 25 and England on February 27, all at the R Premadasa Stadium.“One of the challenges in tournaments like these is jumping from place to place and adjusting. When we play three games at the same place, we learn with each game.”“It’s nice to turn up at the same place with similar pitches and adapt. Tomorrow is our first game here so we’ll have to adapt anyway but we’ll understand the conditions better as we go along,” he said.
Facing rotation
New Zealand’s first challenge will be the Pakistan attack. Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmad, Mohammad Nawaz, Saim Ayub and Shadab Khan form a strong unit.“Pakistan have a number of very good spinners, each with their own threat. We have played them quite a lot in recent years.”“We’re well aware of what they’re going to bring. It’s really clear to us how we want to play against them,” he said.Obviously there was Usman Tariq’s question: “Usman Tariq has a unique action with the way he pauses at the crease, so that’s something to consider.”Chapman, whose role is to take on the spinners in the middle overs, explained why running between the wickets will be crucial.“Because of the slower pitch and bigger boundaries, you have to change your game plan. Against spinners, it’s different options like sweep or reverse sweep. In India, you can focus more on straight boundaries.“For me it’s about finding different areas on the ground. There are big pockets so it’s not all about sixes. Twos, fours and running between the wickets is very important, especially if it’s not a high-scoring game,” he said.
Team news
New Zealand suffered injury setbacks. Michael Bracewell has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament after re-injuring his left calf. Captain Mitchell Santner missed the final group game against Canada due to illness, while Lockie Ferguson returned home for the birth of his first child.“Mitchell Santner looks pretty fit and excited to be back on the park, barring any last minute illness.”“Lockie has just come back and is coming off a long flight. We’ll see how he picks up. I can’t confirm if he’ll be in the starting eleven,” said Chapman.