After an edge-of-the-seat thriller at the Sky Stadium in Wellington to kick-start the T20I series, both New Zealand and Australia are set to take one each other again in the second fixture to be played at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday, February 23.
The Blackcaps are heading into the second T20I on the back of a heart-breaking loss. The series was expected to be a hard-fought one and that’s what it turned out to be in the opening encounter.
The match went right down to the wire and could have gone either way. However, a calm-headed Tim David sealed the deal as he smashed the last ball of the game between deep midwicket and wide long-on to win it for the tourists.
The opening fixture saw a total of 431 runs scored in 40 overs and the second T20I is expected to be no different.
Eden Park Pitch Report
The pitch for the 2nd T20I at Eden Park will be another belting wicket and batters from both sides are in for some real fun, unless they go plundering every other bowler that comes their way.
The straighter boundary is going to be targeted as one can easily bag six runs with a hit measuring a little over 55 meters. The square boundaries are a little over 65 meters and hence the batters are expected to be mindful of the same while calculating their scoring options.
Bowlers need to be spot on in terms of their line and length as the room for error is very small.
Eden Park T20I Record and Stats
Total T20I Matches: 29
Matches won batting first: 12
Matches won bowling first: 12
Average first innings score: 163
Average second innings score: 150
Highest total scored: 245/5 by Australia vs New Zealand
Highest score chased: 245/5 by Australia vs New Zealand
Lowest total recorded: 76 all out by Bangladesh vs New Zealand
Lowest total defended: 108/6 by ENG-W vs NZ-W