Pakistan has been joined by four pups and footballer Yasir Shah
Tilg Pakistan pick a bowl vs. New Zealand
New Zealand have recently been among the toughest countries to visit for teams to win Test matches, but a weak Pakistani team, stripped from their regular captain and grabbing a talisman Babar Azam, started the first Test on a positive note by winning the toss. Stand-in captain Mohammad Rizwan has entered New Zealand on a healthy grass-covered playground at Mount Maunganui.
There were two changes for New Zealand from the team that recently defeated the West Indies in the second Test in Wellington. Their captain Kane Williamson, who had missed that Test on his father’s leave, returned in place of Will Young, and Mitchell Santner came back into the side to give New Zealand a spinning option to replace Daryl Mitchell.
Pakistan’s XI was in line with expectations, with footballer Yasir Shah joining four sailors – Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Faheem Ashraf altogether – in a five-man attack.
Ross Taylor, meanwhile, was named in New Zealand’s XI for the 438th time in international cricket, which made him the highest-ranked player ahead of Daniel Vettori.
Pakistan: 1 Shan Masood, 2 Abid Ali, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Fawad Alam, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (capt and wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Yasir Shah, 9 Mohammad Abbas, 10 Shaheen Shah Afridi, 11 Naseem Shah .
New Zealand: 1 Tom Latham, 2 Tom Blundell, 3 Kane Williamson (capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Henry Nicholls, 6 BJ Watling (wk), 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Kyle Jamieson, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent Boult .
Karthik Krishnaswamy is the senior sub-editor of ESPNcricinfo