It's going to be an epoch-making moment tomorrow when New Zealand will enter Rawalpindi ground after 18-years and the cricket-starved fans will get to witness an enthralling battle between two top ODI sides.

With T20 World Cup in focus, New Zealand have rested some of their main men, but nevertheless, they have enough strength in their squad to compete with Pakistan.

The Black Caps in the recently concluded tour of Bangladesh struggled against spinners and the Pakistan think-tank took note of that as they plan to field at least two spinners tomorrow.

The track at Rawalpindi is not known for offering extravagant turn and the pacers usually get decent purchase from the wicket.

Pakistan would be eyeing a fresh start after a change in coaching team and they would brush off the whitewash against England in July.

It's a perfect opportunity for both teams to weed out issues, improve their ODI game, shape their squads, test their bench-strength and better their rankings.

Match Details

Match: Pakistan v New Zealand, 1st ODI

Date & Time: September 17 2:30pm

Venue: Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi

Predicted Playing XIs

Pakistan:

Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper) Saud Shakil, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir, Zahid Mahmood

New Zealand:

Tom Latham (captain & wicketkeeper), Finn Allen, Doug Bracewell, Colin de Grandhomme, Jacob Duffy, Matt Henry, Cole McConchie, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra, Blair Tickner, Will Young.
 
Fantasy XI and Captaincy Pick

Babar Azam (c), Haider Ali, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper & VC), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Ajaz Patel, Matt Henry, Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Cole McConchie

Pitch Conditions

The conditions will be humid and players would have to battle out the heat - something they will be contending with next month in UAE as well - and the dew factor will also come into play in the second innings. Both captains will prefer to bowl first to minimize the role of dew.