T20 World Cup 2026: Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat against New Zealand, Fakhar Zaman returns

By Samira Vishwas On Feb 21, 2026

Colombo. The first match of the Super-8 round of T20 World Cup 2026 is being played between Pakistan and New Zealand on Saturday at the R Premadasa Cricket Stadium, in which Pakistani captain Salman Aga won the toss and decided to bat. Pakistan has made a change in its playing eleven. Fakhar Zaman has been included in the team. Fakhar has been given a chance in place of Khwaja Nafe.

At the same time, New Zealand has made three changes in its final eleven. Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson are back. Leaving aside the match against India, Pakistan’s performance in the group stage was excellent. The decision to include more spin bowlers in the team has gone in favor of Pakistan. Sahibzada Farhan has shown strong performance in batting. Farhan has scored 220 runs in 4 matches playing at a strike rate of 164.

Farhan played a century in the last match of the group stage against Namibia. However, in this match against New Zealand, the team will expect better performance from the rest of the batsmen as well. Shadab Khan is continuously making important contributions with both bat and ball.

On the other hand, New Zealand’s performance has also been excellent in the first round. Tim Seifert is consistently scoring runs from his bat and he has also been the team’s highest run-scorer in the tournament. Seifert has scored 173 runs in 4 matches. The good news for the Kiwi team is that Glenn Phillips has also returned to form. Phillips scored 76 runs in 36 balls against Canada. The team will expect a strong performance from Phillips against Pakistan even today.

Pakistan’s playing eleven: Sahibzada Farhan, Sam Ayub, Salman Aga (captain), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Khan, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq.

New Zealand’s playing eleven: Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Rachin Ravindra, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Mitchell Santner (captain), James Neesham, Matt Henry, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson.