Match starts at 09:00 pm (PST) LAHORE: Led by Babar Azam, Pakistan will lock horns with New Zealand in a much-anticipated five-match T20I series starting at picturesque Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday (today). The New Zealand tour of Pakistan – also comprising five ODIs – promises some riveting international action. The GSL will stage first three matches before the action shifts to Rawalpindi where the last two games of the series will be played on April 20 and 24. Pakistan will play their first T20I at GSL since October 2022, when they played England in the lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Pakistan have won 10 of the 18 matches here since 2015 and the venue has provided viewers action their money’s worth with 8.13 runs being scored per over. Pakistan have picked a star-studded T20I squad, boosted by the return of Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is all set to play for the first time in international cricket since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final against England in November 2022. Though he returns to play international cricket after a four-month gap, Afridi has been busy picking up silverware and smashing records in Pakistan. During the recent Pakistan Super League, the ace pacer led Lahore Qalandars to the trophy, thus becoming the first captain to win the PSL twice. Also returning to the squad, along with Babar, are Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman and Haris Rauf, all of whom were rested for the Afghanistan T20I series in Sharjah. Pakistan will be pleased to see their star T20I players back in action as they were dearly missed when Afghanistan trounced them 2-1. On the other hand, the New Zealand side, depleted by the Indian Premier League (IPL) with eight of their stars missing and regular skipper Kane Williamson out with a bad knee injury, will be led by batsman Tom Latham, and providing plenty of opportunity for newcomers to sparkle. For the Black Caps, it is an unchartered territory as they have never played a T20I in Pakistan. They will hope to bank on the experience of their recent tour of Karachi when they played two Tests and three one-day internationals across December and January, but playing in Gaddafi Stadium against a full-fledged Pakistan side will be a challenging task. Pakistan already have an upper-hand as they have defeated New Zealand four times in the last five matches, the most recent one being a convincing seven-wicket win in the T20 World Cup semi-final in Sydney. That only defeat was during the tri-series in Christchurch, which Pakistan won, just before the World Cup. Skipper Babar said on Thursday that they had a good squad that married the exuberance of youth and the experience of senior cricketers. He added they would not take a weakened Black Caps side lightly. “International cricket demands full commitment and that’s what we are focused on. We are going to bring our ‘A’ game and keep ourselves focused for good results.” To a question, he replied it was a great feeling to be back in Lahore in Pakistan colours. “This promises to be an exciting series as we bring the exciting young talent and the experience of senior players together in this solid squad. The T20 World Cup is over a year away and we will look to utilise the next five games to see where we stand. They will also help us gear up for the crucial five-match ODI series that follows as more or less we have the same players in this team and that series will provide us a good opportunity to prepare for the Asia Cup and World Cup later in the year.” The visitors will be banking on the experience of their stand-in captain Latham, Jimmy Neesham, Matt Henry, Daryl Mitchell and Ish Sodhi to put up a fight against a full-strength Pakistan. The presence of their recently-signed assistant coach Saqlain Mushtaq could come in handy, who knows the conditions in Lahore and Rawalpindi all too well. “Conditions are completely different to what we’re used to back home and it’s going to be important that we adapt as quickly as possible,” Latham said. “We’ll lean on the experiences we had on the tour here a couple of months ago where we managed to play some good cricket in both the Test and ODI series.” Squads: Pakistan: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan New Zealand: Tom Latham (captain, wk), Chad Bowes, Mark Chapman, Dane Cleaver, Matt Henry, Ben Lister, Adam Milne, Cole McConchie, Daryl Mitchell, Jimmy Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Henry Shipley, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Will Young. Umpires: Ahsan Raza and Faisal Afridi TV umpire: Asif Yaqoob Match referee: Ali Naqvi Schedule: April 14 — 1st T20I in Lahore April 15 — 2nd T20I in Lahore April 17 — 3rd T20I in Lahore April 20 — 4th T20I in Rawalpindi April 24 — 5th T20I in Rawalpind