T20 Time

What
It's T20 time on a public holiday in the capital as Westpac Stadium plays host to the BLACKCAPS and Pakistan in the opening game of a three-match Twenty20 series.

Last time

FLASHBACK: Ahead of tomorrow's opening T20 at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, we look back at the last contest between the two sides at the venue on @skysportnz #NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/WyVfmP2maq

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) January 21, 2018

Team News
For the BLACKCAPS, short-form specialists Glenn Phillips, (Aces) Ish Sodhi (Knights), Seth Rance (Stags), Ben Wheeler (Stags), Tom Bruce (Stags) and Anaru Kitchen (Volts) join the squad in place of the Canterbury quartet of Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Matt Henry and Todd Astle.

Pakistan has lost the experience of Shoaib Malik who has returned home following his head-knock in the Hamilton ODI. Other than that, their T20 team mirrors their ODI side with the two Mohammads - Hafeez and Amir the key men with bat and ball respectively.

Face Value
The BLACKCAPS are the number one ranked T20 side in the world with the top-ranked batsman (Colin Munro) and bowler (Sodhi) - WOW! Our boys are also stacked with power and class with both bat and ball and are regarded as one of the best fielding sides in world cricket. However, Pakistan are probably most dangerous in the shortest format and showed that first-up at Eden Park two years ago when they tipped the boys up - they're ranked #2 in the world.

Opta Fast Facts
* The Black Caps have won three games on the spin versus Pakistan in T20 Internationals; they have the opportunity to claim four victories in succession against them for the first time. 

* New Zealand come into this match having won 10 successive games in white ball cricket (T20Is/ODIs); Pakistan have claimed four T20I victories in a row ahead of this contest. 

* The Black Caps have a formidable T20I record on home soil; winning 11 of their 13 matches there since the start of 2014, losing only twice in that time. 

* These sides have met at Westpac Stadium once before in T20I cricket; New Zealand won on that occasion by a margin of 95 runs in January 2016. 

* Pakistan have won more T20I games than any other side (72), they’ve claimed victory in 60% of their total matches to date whilst New Zealand possess a win rate of 52% in this format. 

* Martin Guptill is 74 runs away from becoming only the second batsman ever to reach 2,000 in T20I cricket (Brendon McCullum); he’s posted scores of 80, 42 and 87* across his last three knocks against Pakistan. 

* Guptill (376) has the opportunity to set a new record for most T20I runs scored against a single opponent; he requires 49 to go above the record he previously set himself (against South Africa, 424). 

* Mohammad Hafeez (280) needs to score only five in this match to become Pakistan’s all-time leading runscorer versus the Black Caps in T20Is; he has claimed only one half-century across his 11 previous innings against them. 

* Colin Munro comes into this encounter having scored 50+ in four of his last five T20I innings; including 50s in each of his last three, only twice has a batsman managed four consecutive 50s in T20Is (McCullum, Gayle). 

* Munro has the highest strike rate of any of the 43 batsmen to have registered as many runs as he has in this format (161.1, 947 runs).