Pakistan (Playing XI): Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed(w/c), Umar Amin, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Rumman Raees

New Zealand (Playing XI): Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson(c), Tom Bruce, Glenn Phillips(w), Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Ben Wheeler, Ish Sodhi, Seth Rance, Trent Boult

Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to bat

It's been all too easy for the hosts and they have had the luxury of rotating their players. Kane Williamson, who was rested for the first game with a niggle, fun88 Tips Free is expected to be back and Ross Taylor might sit out of this game. Colin Munro has been amongst the runs and so has Martin Guptill. Free fun88 Tips With the bowlers running rings around the Pakistani top-order, the middle-order batsmen have had very little to do. fun88 Tips Will we see a reshuffle in the batting order? Or will the series victory take first precedence?

18:10 Local Time: It's a been a difficult tour for Pakistan so far. Whitewashed 5-0 in the ODI series, they are on the verge of losing the Twenty20 international series as well. Batting has been the woe for Sarfraz Ahmed's side, the high of winning the 2017 Champions Trophy has been forgotten as the team struggles to put up decent totals in the Antepode nation. With very little to play for, the bowlers have hardly got a chance to exhibit their credentials. As the tour party reaches Auckland for the first time, Pakistan will have to play out of their skins if they are to dethrone the current world number one T20I team and keep the 3-match series alive.

Preview

It has been a summer of just wins and more wins for New Zealand. After winning the first T20I against Pakistan, they have 13 victories on the trot across formats in this home season. fun88 Betting Tips Free And that despite some chopping and changing, forced or otherwise. That they go into the second T20I as favourites would be an understatement. Even more so given their opposition, Pakistan are dealing with a host of problems of their own.

First amongst Pakistan's problems will be the failure against the new ball where they have lost crucial wickets consistently through the limited-overs fun88 Betting Tips games this series.

And there will be no let-up this time around either. Free Betting Tips New Zealand have a rotational policy going for this series and in accordance to that they will have the services of Trent Boult and Lockie Ferguson for this game.

Needless to say then that Pakistan will have their task cut out once again early while batting. fun88 Betting Tips Free They will be eager to break the rut of losses in this series. They have threatened with a few good individual performances over the course of the series but haven't managed to run New Zealand close. The nature of the T20I format though ought to reduce the gap between the two sides, and Pakistan will be hopeful of those individual performances turning the game in their favour.

Where: Eden Park, Auckland

When: 19:00 Local time on January 25, 2018

What to expect: Eden Park is one of the grounds where boundaries ought to flow but the pitch has a tendency to be sticky, which could restrict run flow.

Team News

New Zealand: Kane Williamson, who missed the previous game with a niggle, is expected to be back and lead the side. Ross Taylor will be sitting out because of the rotational policy.

Pakistan: Micky Arthur and Co. have the unenviable job of changing the batting overnight. They might experiment a touch with the batting order in a bid to beef up the top with experience in the absence of Shoaib Malik.

Did you know?

- New Zealand have won their last four T20Is against Pakistan. The last time Pakistan beat the hosts was in early 2016 in Auckland.

- Colin Munro needs four runs to become the fifth New Zealand batsman to reach 1000 runs in T20 Internationals. If he gets there in his next innings (37th), he will be the second slowest among the five after Ross Taylor (51).

- New Zealand have won eight out of the last ten T20Is at home with one match ending in a no result. This home season they have remained unbeaten across formats winning both the Tests, all eight ODIs and three out of the four T20Is.

What they said

"I think they're a pretty unpredictable team. When they come out and play to their potential, they can beat anyone, and you can see that in the results that they've had." - Colin Munro is not taking Pakistan lightly