Colombo, Feb 21 (IANS) New Zealand have brought back captain Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, and Lockie Ferguson into their playing eleven as Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the opening Super Eights clash of the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday.

The start of the game may be delayed as rain arrived and covers were put back on the entire ground immediately after the toss was held. Santner has recovered from his illness and is back to lead New Zealand again, while Ferguson is back after flying back home for the birth of his first child.

“Could be a little bit different here (compared to the conditions in Chennai), but we have seen a lot of the games throughout the tournament here, and we know the challenge they possess. Should be entertaining, they got some good spinners,” he said.

Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha said Fakhar Zaman comes in for Khawaja Nafay and gets his first game of this World Cup. “We have one pacer, Faheem Ashraf — he is a good all-rounder. So we have two pacers and a lot of spin options. They are a quality side, we know that. We have to play our A game, and that is what we look forward to today,” he said.

In his pitch report, former Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja described the surface as “a little tacky,” and his view was echoed by ex-Australia captain Aaron Finch. The duo felt that with the grass not live, taking pace off the ball could be the way forward, while spinners may need courage to give the ball some flight.

Playing XIs:

New Zealand: Tim Seifert (wk), Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (captain), Jimmy Neesham, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, and Lockie Ferguson

Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Salman Mirza, and Usman Tariq

–IANS

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