Last Updated on 6 years by Charbel Coorey

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Preview co-written by @Abdushakoorcric

Four international matches on one beautiful Sunday, including two ODI deciders. It is a day for the cricket lovers.

The wish of many fans has come true, with Pakistan performing brilliantly on Friday to eradicate a dead rubber from this series. Can Pakistan, after losing 12 straight ODIs to New Zealand, beat them in the ODI series after taking out the T20I series?

Yes, finally, Pakistan’s woes against the BlackCaps ended as they restricted the visitors to a little over 200 in the 2nd ODI. It was an exhibition of tight, effective bowling, with the superstar 18-year old Shaheen Shah Afridi proving to be an absolute champion for team Pakistan, taking four wickets in each of the two ODIs. Hafeez, bringing all his experience, is stopping the run flow with his mixture of flats and floaties, giving Pakistan the luxury of introducing Imad Wasim in the 31st over.at Abu Dhabi. Pakistan’s bowling performance set the stage for their batsmen to come and cream the chase, reaching the target easily in the 41st over, thanks mainly to a fantastic innings from Fakhar Zaman.

New Zealand spent almost their entire innings in rebuilding mode, forcing Ross Taylor to simply stay in so they can bat their full 50 overs. That they did was an achievement in itself, given their difficulties, starting off with a low score for Colin Munro and an unlucky dismissal for Kane Williamson. New Zealand’s bowlers couldn’t repeat their heroics from the 1st ODI, working overtime on Friday to try stay in the game. Will they put a more polished performance in the decider?

Key to a Pakistan win

Pakistan’s bounce back in this series can be largely credited to the brilliant Shaheen Shah Afridi. The 18 year-old broke the back of the New Zealand batting line up on Friday, dismissing the dangerous Colin Munro and Tom Latham – the latter with a yorker that had Ramiz Raja understandably excited. Most importantly, he has been able to send back Colin Munro early twice in the series, which has not allowed New Zealand to get off to a flying start.

It’s more than safe to say that Shaheen (who has received his maiden test call for the first two Tests against New Zealand ) is the key to a good bowling show for Pakistan. He will need the backing of the tidy Faheem Ashraf, with Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez to put the squeeze on New Zealand further in the middle overs.

Also, to the delight of Pakistan fans, Fakhar Zaman played an innings that could be the catalyst for a better time in the UAE. He played some amazing shots to balance the side before getting out on strike rate of 100, where others throughout the match struggled to get anywhere near that. Can he fire again, along with Babar Azam, who also looked in good touch? If called upon, can the middle order also deliver in a crunch game?

Key to a New Zealand win

New Zealand could be wanting more from Waqar Younis, who popped the question on commentary of “when was the last time New Zealand were defeated by 10 wickets?” That was the catalyst for two quick wickets to fall, so Danny Morrison could attempt to bring more commentary curses out of Waqar for New Zealand’s benefit.

Jokes aside, Colin Munro has not been able to provide New Zealand with a fast start, and the 2nd ODI also highlighted the importance of Kane Williamson and Tom Latham in keeping the scoreboard moving. Skipper Williamson has been out in nightmare fashion in both ODIs, but has immense class to build an innings with the elegance we know and love. Ross Taylor is carrying the innings fine, but needs someone to lend a helping hand to rotate the strike a little more effectively than Henry Nicholls was able to on Friday, so Williamson and Latham’s contributions are key.

Their bowling department, with the likes of Boult, Southee and Ferguson, has been a pretty well oiled machine in this series. If there is a good total to be defended, New Zealand’s attack has what it takes, but early wickets is of utmost importance. The same applies if they bowl first, with Colin de Grandhomme and Ish Sodhi required to play the supporting role well in the middle overs. Can New Zealand pick up their third straight ODI series win at Pakistan’s adopted home, UAE?

Possible teams

Dream11

• Tom Latham remains key for New Zealand, and I have a strong feeling about Babar Azam today. He is close to 1,000 ODI runs in the UAE, and it could be his time to shine.

Stats and Facts

• Fakhar Zaman’s fifty in the last match was his first in the UAE in ODIs. 

• Shaheen Shah Afridi has taken four wickets in each of the first two ODIs, without bowling his full quota of overs in either game.

• Babar Azam need 29 runs to complete 1,000 ODI runs in the UAE. 

Prediction