Pakistan vs. New Zealand 2nd T20: Date, Live Stream, TV Info, Preview

After being walloped in the third Test, Pakistan got back to winning ways with a convincing seven-wicket win in the first T20I against New Zealand.

The Kiwis will get the opportunity to bounce back immediately in the second and final T20 match of series on Friday.

The visitors went one down in the Test series but levelled things in impressive fashion. Let's see whether their T20 players can do the same.

Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium

Date: Friday, December 5

Start time: 4 p.m. GMT/8 p.m. local time

Live on: Ten Sports (Middle East/Asia), Sky Sport (New Zealand), ZEE Cinema (UK)

Weather: There should be no problems with the weather in Dubai on Friday. According to BBC Weather, it will be dry with temperatures of 24C at the start of the game.

Overview

If New Zealand are to share the spoils in this brief T20 series, they will need more from a top order that was blown away on Thursday.

Despite a T20I-best score of 48 from the dangerous Corey Anderson, the Black Caps never looked like posting a challenging total after losing three early wickets.

Missing Brendon McCullum, the visitors will need big guns Martin Guptill, skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor to fire.

T20 debutant Matt Henry showed promise, but the New Zealand attack was largely unthreatening in the face of some quality batting from Sarfraz Ahmed and Umar Akmal.

Lacking express pace and mystery spin, the visitors' limited but canny attack could do with the help of some scoreboard pressure. Their top order is full of talent so there's no reason why they shouldn't oblige.

Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi will be hoping for a repeat performance from his mercurial side. The left-arm duo of Mohammad Irfan and Sohail Tanvir caused plenty of problems and Anwar Ali justified his selection ahead of Umar Gul.

"

We had a long batting line-up so we were confident. But the credit goes to the bowlers for bowling brilliantly "@SAfridiOfficial" #PakvNZ

— PCB Official (@CricketofPK) December 4, 2014"

Playing in just his fifth T20I, Sarfraz Ahmed smashed the highest score in this format by a Pakistani wicketkeeper.

One area where the hosts will be looking to improve is their running between the wickets. Awais Zia and Mohammad Hafeez both perished to needless runouts. On other days, such carelessness will be punished with defeat.

The two teams look well matched, but as their ICC Rankings suggest, Pakistan appear to just have the edge.

Team News

Pakistan (from): Shahid Afridi, Ahmed Shehzad, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Irfan, Awais Zia, Raza Hasan, Saad Nasim, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz.

New Zealand (from): Kane Williamson (capt), Corey Anderson, Dean Brownlie, Anton Devcich, Martin Guptill, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Ross Taylor, Daniel Vettori.

Key Players

Pakistan

Taking wickets is the best way to keep the run rate down in all forms of the game and T20s are no exception. The man most likely to do that for Pakistan is Mohammad Irfan. The giant paceman's disconcerting bounce and subtle changes of pace make him an extremely dangerous proposition.

Mohammed Hafeez failed to shine with bat or ball in the opening match but is in good touch after an impressive Test series. A good effort from the 34-year-old will go a long way towards securing a series win for Pakistan.

New Zealand

Kane Williamson suffered his first golden duck in 18 T20I innings in Thursday's opener. The 24-year-old looked in great touch, scoring 192 in the third Test. He's more than capable of bouncing back from his first-baller.

All-rounder Corey Anderson showed why he is one of the most dangerous batsmen in the limited-overs cricket in game one. The left-hander's 48 from 37 balls helped the Kiwis to a respectable total in Dubai. If given the right platform, he could propel the visitors to something spectacular.