New Zealand v Pakistan, 2nd semi-final, Johannesburg

Pak vs NZ 2nd Semi-final - Pakistan Uncertain Final Eleven

Johannesburg: Controversial pacer Mohammad Asif's impressive comeback against Australia has left the Pakistan team management in a fix over the playing eleven for their semifinal clash against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy on Saturday.

Pakistan captain Younis Khan said that Asif's successful comeback to international cricket after nearly 17 months, has forced the tour selection committee to engage in lengthy discussions to decide upon the playing eleven for the all-important tie.

Pakistan had rested left arm pacer Aamer and opener Imran Nazir in their last group match against Australia which they lost on the last ball.

Younis said Nazir was rested because he still had stitches on the webbing of his hand which he tore during the game against India.

It is not as though New Zealand teams have freakish unorthodox talents who have taken the world by storm. There is something about their attitude, plucky, dogged, determined and ever willing to be the underdog that causes them to constantly overcome better teams.

Apart from the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000, then called the ICC KnockOut, New Zealand have never won a major title. But they seldom fail to make the last four.

That they have done so while missing key players is all the more remarkable. "We have lost three pretty key players in Jesse Ryder (groin), Jacob Oram (hamstring) and Daryl Tuffey (broken hand)," Vettori said.

Head 2 Head

	Pakistan	New Zealand
Ranking	4	5
Captain	Younus Khan	Daniel Vettori
Coach	Intikhab Alam	Andy Moles
Highest Total chased	Pakistan won by 3 wickets on Nov 28 2003 Target Chased: 291	New Zealand won by 4 wickets on Feb 27 2001 Target Chased: 285
Most Prolific Batsman	Inzamam-ul-Haq (1283 Runs)/div>	Stephen Fleming (1090 Runs)
Highest Individual Score	Inzamam-ul-Haq (137 Runs)	Nathan Astle (119 Runs)
Best Bowling Analysis	6/16 by Shoaib Akhtar on Apr 20 2002	5/38 by Richard Hadlee on Feb 05 1989
Most Prolific Bowler	Waqar Younis (79 Wickets)	Danny Morrison (39 Wickets)
Head to head	Total Played 77, Pakistan 47, New Zealand 28, Tied 1, No Result 1
Current Form	WWWWL	LLLWW (recent last)

Team news

New Zealand: The batting looks amazingly thin in Ryder's absence. Aaron Redmond, who was too jetlagged to play the previous game, should come in.

Squad (likely): Brendon McCullum (wk), Aaron Redmond, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Neil Broom, Grant Elliot/Scott Styris, James Franklin, Daniel Vettori (capt), Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, Ian Butler.

Pakistan: Imran Nazir is fit and should take Misbah-ul-Haq's place. The difficult problem is one that other teams would kill for: does Mohammad Asif go out for Mohammad Aamer? Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Umar Gul will be difficult to keep out too.

Squad (likely): Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan (capt), Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Aamer/Mohammad Asif, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul.

Pitch and conditions
Vettori expects a pitch similar to the one New Zealand scored 300-plus on against Sri Lanka. "Looks like the Sri Lanka wicket, lots of runs in it. If so we're going to have to step up with the bat." There's only a 40% chance of rain but if the match is washed out, New Zealand will go through by the virtue of having topped Group B.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have met New Zealand nine times in ODIs in world events, and have won six.
• All four day-night matches at the Wanderers in this tournament have been won by the chasing team.
• Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi have bowled 51.2 overs between them in this tournament, for 203 runs and 10 wickets.

Match facts
Saturday, October 3, 2009 (day/night)
Start time 1430, 1230 GMT, 00:30 NZ, 17:30 Pak