Who Won the Toss Today, PAK vs NZ 1st T20I: Pakistan vs New Zealand Toss Result & Playing 11 News on January 12

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Who Won the Toss Today, PAK vs NZ 1st T20I: Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi won the toss and elected to bowl first against Kane Williamson's New Zealand in the series opener at the Eden Park in Auckland on Friday (January 12).

New Zealand head into the match on the back of a 1-1 home T20 series draw with Bangladesh, while visiting Pakistan senior team are playing their first T20 since 2-2 home series draw against the Blackcaps in April 2023.

This will be Pakistan's 35th T20 meeting with New Zealand. The Asian side hold a 20-13 record with 1 match ending in no result in their previous 34 T20I matches against New Zealand.

As for the team news for Friday's match, New Zealand, who welcome back Williamson, will miss the services of all-rounder Mitchell Santner, who has been ruled out of the opener after testing positive for Covid. The Kiwis pick four seamers as Tim Southee and Matt Henry lead the attack.

In Santner's absence, Ish Sodhi and Glenn Phillips will be taking the responsibility of spin as ODI World Cup star Rachin Ravindra doesn't find a place in the T20 squad. The Blackcaps will hope Santner is back in time for the second T20I on Sunday (January 14) in Hamilton.

Pakistan, meanwhile, have handed T20 debuts to Usama Mir and Abbas Afridi, while the likes of Aamer Jamal and Saim Ayub retain their places from the Test seires in Australia. Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Haris Rauf are some fresh faces who make their return,

Pakistan vs New Zealand 1st T20I Playing 11

Pakistan XI: Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Aamer Jamal, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi (captain), Abbas Afridi, Haris Rauf.

New Zealand XI: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wicketkeeper), Kane Williamson (captain), Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Adam Milne, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Ben Sears.