UAE vs NZ, 2nd T20I: Kiwis seek series triumph
What's the story
New Zealand will look to seal the deal as they meet the United Arab Emirates in the second T20I of the three-match series on August 19.
The Kiwis won the opener by 19 runs as the game went right down to the wire.
UAE put up a valiant fight and walked away with several positives.
Here is the preview of the second T20I.
Report
Pitch report and streaming details
The Dubai International Cricket Stadium will host the second game (7:30pm IST).
The series opener also took place here as the dry surface gave substantial assistance to spinners.
However, top-order batters can accumulate big runs early on. Chasing teams have won 45 of the 86 T20Is here.
The Star Sports network will telecast the match live, while live-streaming is available on the Fancode app.
Information
First T20I series between the two sides
The series opener marked the first-ever T20I clash between UAE and New Zealand. However, the two teams have clashed once earlier, back in the 1996 ODI World Cup in Pakistan when NZ won by 109 runs.
XIs
Here are the Probable XIs:
New Zealand (Probable XI): Tim Seifert, Chad Bowes, Dane Cleaver (wk), Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham, Rachin Ravindra, Cole McConchie, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee (c), Ben Lister.
UAE (Probable XI): Muhammad Waseem (c), Aryansh Sharma (wk), Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Ansh Tandon, Basil Hameed, Ali Naseer, Aayan Afzal Khan, Mohammed Faraazuddin, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan.
Stats
Santner eyes this milestone
NZ's premium spinner Mitchell Santner has scalped 93 wickets in 84 T20Is at an average of 21.97 20. He can become the third NZ bowler with 100-plus T20I wickets.
Only Southee and Ish Sodhi have achieved this record with 139 and 118 wickets, respectively, in this format.
Notably, the left-arm spinner claimed a couple of wickets in the T20I series opener.
Stats
Southee may overtake Shakib Al Hasan
NZ captain Tim Southee, who claimed a five-wicket haul in the opener, has raced to 139 wickets in 108 T20Is at 22.8.
Overall, he is the second-highest wicket-taker in this format.
Southee needs just a couple of wickets to surpass Bangladesh's veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who leads the T20I wickets column with 140 scalps.
Dream11
Dream11 Fantasy cricket options
Fantasy XI (Option 1): Tim Seifert (VC), Aryansh Sharma, Mark Chapman, Will Young, Muhammad Waseem, Rohan Mustafa, Mitchell Santner, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee (C), Kyle Jamieson, Junaid Siddique.
Fantasy XI (Option 2): Tim Seifert, Aryansh Sharma (VC), Mark Chapman, Will Young, Muhammad Waseem, Rohan Mustafa, Mitchell Santner (C), Cole McConchie, Tim Southee, Ben Lister, Junaid Siddique.