Spinners in focus as Pak face Kiwis

Colombo: Spinners will be in the limelight as Pakistan face New Zealand in the first match of the Super 8s stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 to be played at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday.

Historically, the Premadasa surface has helped spinners, with grip and turn coming into play as the match progresses. Spinners from both sides are expected to play a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the match.

The 2009 T20 World Cup champions, Pakistan, are coming to the competition after a good run in the Group Stage, where they won three matches out of four and lost only against the defending champions, India. The team possesses some quality spinners like Usman Tariq, Abrar Ahmed, Saim Ayub, and skipper Salman Agha, who can challenge the New Zealand batters’ defence. On the other side, New Zealand also had a similar outing in the group stage of the tournament. Mitchell Santner’s side won three matches out of four and lost only one -- against the 2024 T20 World Cup runner-up South Africa.

Captain Santner missed the last match due to illness, but he is fit and likely to return to the side for the Super 8s stage.

Squads: Pakistan: Salman Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay, Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq.

New Zealand: Mitchell Santner (captain), Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Devon Conway, Jacob Duffy, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi.