New Zealand vs Pakistan LIVE SCORE, ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Match Updates: FOUR! That's it. Pakistan win by 6 wickets. They remain afloat in the tournament. Top knock from Babar Azam and great support by Sohail from the other end. The spooky similarity between Pakistan's 1992 and 2019 campaign continues to surprise and shock everyone equally. They have beaten New Zealand now. Need to win against Afghanistan and Bangladesh to keep the semi-finals chances alive.
Their campaign revived by a win over South Africa, Pakistan will continue their battle of survival when they face an unstoppable New Zealand in a must-win World Cup clash on Wednesday.
Pakistan faced severe criticism after their loss to arch-rivals India but their 49-run win over South Africa breathed life into their campaign but the road ahead is a tough one.
With just two wins and three losses, Pakistan are at the seventh spot with five points in six games.
Sarfaraz Ahmed and his men will now not only have to win the remaining three matches, starting with New Zealand, but also hope that the results in other matches favour them to salvage any hopes of a semifinal berth.
While pacer Mohammad Amir has been their biggest star, claiming 15 wickets to top the list, none of the other bowlers have backed him, which has affected their campaign.
Their batting line-up too lacked spark before left-handed batsman Haris Sohail, who was dropped after the opening game, made a strong comeback with a 59-ball 89 to help Pakistan post a challenging 308 for 7 against South Africa.
Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz also chipped in with three wickets in their last game after Amir once again delivered, accounting for two scalps.
While the batting and bowling units delivered against the Proteas, fielding is an area of concern for Pakistan and Sarfaraz too admitted that the team will need to pull up its socks.
"We have to work harder on fielding. Again we dropped so many catches (against South Africa), some straightforward and some half-chances. All three matches now are very crucial and we have to sort it out," Sarfaraz had said after the match.
New Zealand, on the other hand, have been invincible so far and currently hold the top position in the points table.
Full Team Squads:
New Zealand Team Players: Colin Munro, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson(c), Tom Blundell(w), Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Tom Latham, Ish Sodhi.
Pakistan Team Players: Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed(w/c), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Haris Sohail, Asif Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain.
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