At a glance
New Zealand v Pakistan, second Twenty20 international
Eden Park, Auckland; 7pm Thursday
(from): Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson (captain), Tom Bruce, Glenn Phillips, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Ben Wheeler, Seth Rance, Ish Sodhi, Anaru Kitchen, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult (from): Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Amin, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Aamer Yamin, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Rumman Raees.
New Zealand $1.35, Pakistan $3.00
In some cases, the pendulum has swung too far the other way. Winning bilateral series at home is not enough to make this the best Black Caps side ever, but if they keep this run going, the argument in their favour will grow stronger and stronger.
Tougher challenges in the shape of Australia and England loom large, but they will be eager to notch wins 14 and 15 of the summer against Pakistan this week – the third and final T20 is on
Sunday at Mount Maunganui.
Colin Munro has been one of the team’s star performers in the shortest format, and as far he’s concerned, there’s no special sauce fuelling the current run.
‘‘We’re just trying to play each game as well as we can,’’ he said.
‘‘I know it sounds boring and that it’s an old cliche, but that’s what we’re trying to do, and big series wins will take care of themselves.
‘‘When you’re winning, it’s the