24th Match, Group A -
New Zealand v Pakistan
Pallekele International
Cricket Stadium
Tue Mar 809:00 GMT |
14:30 local 15:00 BDT
Daniel Vettori, New Zealand
Daniel Vettori as the captain and best player in the team, Vettori is comfortably the most important man in New Zealand’s World Cup campaign. Opposition batsmen are often content to see him off and attack the fast bowlers, but New Zealand are at their best when Vettori is also outsmarting batsmen and taking wickets. On the subcontinental pitches, he must use his own bowling as an attacking option. He is also one of the more reliable batsmen in New Zealand’s order, although his impact in ODIs has not been as great as in Tests. He is the only man in the squad to have been to three previous World Cups, although he did not play a game in 1999.
Shahid Afridi, Pakistan
Afridi is one of only three players who have scored over 5000 runs and picked up over 250 wickets in ODIs Forget the debate over whether Shahid Afridi will or should be captain of the ODI side; he remains the side's most talismanic player, capable of changing any game in a trice. Over the years, it is Afridi's leg-spin that has held him in better stead, providing not only a vital choke during the middle overs, but a serious wicket-taking threat. With the bat he remains as he was when he first arrived, capable of both ends of madness. Often he has threatened to become mature and sensible but it is generally a temporary state; don't discount his two ODI hundreds in the Asia Cup last year, in his first matches as captain and also 2011 ICC World Cup.
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