Mohammad Haris and Hasan Nawaz are at the crease. Mohammad Haris is on strike. Jacob Duffy will open the attack

Time for the national anthems. First is Pakistan followed by New Zealand. The anthems are done and New Zealand are in a huddle. Out walk the players to the middle. We are all set as Duffy has the ball.

Here's Jacob Duffy talking to Grant Elliot before the game: It has been a bit of a journey, being around the team has been a positive experience. Have to make the most of the opportunities when you get it and hopefully another one today. I have been working on my game and getting better. Feel I'm reaching my peak and enjoying my cricket. I remember those days, Grant, you used to bully me. Have gained a yard of pace and the goal is not to be in the 130s but to touch the 140s and moving it both ways. I won't be like Lockie Ferguson. (on the team's attacking instincts) Just the nature of the guys in the shed, they will go out and whack it. Very confident group as you saw in the Champions Trophy and long may it continue. (on the 2026 T20 World Cup) Haven't sort of broached that topic, big series against Pakistan here and try to take each day as it comes I guess. The big one is the 2027 WC and that's the pinnacle. Test cricket as well. I want to wear the whites. I'm 30 now and I just want to play as many games for NZ and win them.

Pitch report by Grant Elliot and Frankie McKay: The pitch has a green covering of grass. Will do a bit for the seamers. There will be a bit of sideways movement and a bit of bounce. Won't help much for the spinners. It will skid on nicely. Have to factor in the wind, few boundaries are short. We have just had 3 T20I games here and the average first innings score is 194 in those games. It will be interesting to see how Pakistan adapt to the pace and bounce but there are runs on offer at the University Oval.

Salman Agha: It will probably do a bit, we are ready for that. When you come to NZ, we know there will be extra bounce, but we are ready. it is the first game for most of them but we now have experience, we expect to do better today. We have one change - Haris Rauf in for Abrar Ahmed.

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears

Michael Bracewell: We are gonna have another bowl. Looks like the wicket potentially has something as it was under covers. No more rain around, hopefully we get the 15 overs in. Perfect game last time, fingers crossed we can do that again. We have a couple of changes, quick turnaround between games, two changes for us - Jamieson and Robinson out, Neesham and Sears in.

Teams:

New Zealand (Playing XI): Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Hay(w), Michael Bracewell(c), Zakary Foulkes, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears

Pakistan (Playing XI): Mohammad Haris(w), Hasan Nawaz, Salman Agha(c), Irfan Khan, Shadab Khan, Abdul Samad, Khushdil Shah, Jahandad Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Ali

New Zealand have won the toss and have opted to field

15:08 Local Time, 02:08 GMT, 07:38 IST: Great news. Toss in two minutes. Play to start at 15:40. It will be a 15-over game. Currently sunny and bright. The players are doing their warmups. The umpires had a chat with both captains as well.

Shadab Khan talking before the game: (on conditions here) Our summer starts in Pakistan so it will be cold for us. It is same like Karachi, with the wind. I see the boundary dimensions are small, so I have to see where to bowl. We have a very young team, they wanted to prove their skills and they wanted to show their talent to the world. The intent we showed in the first game is a positive. We have to assess the conditions here and hopefully we assess it better than the last game. As a senior player I want to show them, they see how you do, we have a couple of senior players and we wanted to show them how to play these conditions. We have to adjust to the bounce, they have tall bowlers and it is not like Pakistan. (on the PSL last year) I definitely enjoyed - Mike (Hesson) came and we won the championship. I'm really excited as next month PSL is starting. As a batter I have not done well internationally as I have done in PSL so I need to work on that here. (on the youngsters) As an international player you have to adjust, it is very different to what we get in sub-continent. If they perform well, their confidence level will be boosted.

14:40 Local Time, 01:40 GMT, 07:10 IST: Sun out and the next inspection is at 15:00 local. Looks promising with no rain around.

14:09 Local Time, 01:09 GMT, 06:39 IST: The covers are off and the umpires are having a look. Seifert, Bracewell and Ronchi stroll around to the middle to inspect the conditions. Live visuals show that the next inspection is at 14:30 local.

14:03 Local Time, 01:03 GMT, 06:33 IST: Bad news - the rain has returned. We could be in for a bit of a delay.

13:55 Local Time, 00:55 GMT, 06:25 IST: The toss should have happened by now, but it has been delayed. Hang on for further updates.

Today is a double-header day in Dunedin. Unfortunately due to rain the women's game had to be abandoned after 14.1 overs. Currently it is gloomy but the covers are off. There is no rain. Stay tuned...

Hello and welcome to the second game between Pakistan and New Zealand. Pakistan were handed a shellacking in the first T20I. They made a horde of changes after a debacle in CT 2025. But even that didn't help them as most of their batters looked clueless against Jamieson and Duffy. But the biggest enemy for a batter in T20s is overthinking. Pakistan will have to see that as a bad dream and move on. The last T20I at this venue was between these two sides and NZ had Finn Allen smacking an amazing ton. Bat first has been the mantra in the recent domestic T20 games here and the captains might as well would want to take a cue from that. Toss and sheets in a while.