Pakistan with a chance of toppling New Zealand in Test cricket

Pakistan are currently ranked seventh in Test cricket with 95 ratings. They have played a couple of Test series’ against England and Australia and one match against Ireland this year. While they turned over the Three Lions at the iconic Lord’s, Sarfraz Ahmed and Co slumped to a defeat in the second encounter in Leeds and therefore letting go the chance of winning the series in England.

Even in the first Test match against Australia in the United Arab Emirates, a resolute show by the Aussies stopped the home team from carving a victory. However, they came back to win the second Test and the series as well. Pakistan are now scheduled to play a three-match Test series against New Zealand, which starts on November 16 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan can make serious progress

The second and third encounter will start on November 24 and December 3 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. In the meantime, Pakistan have a golden chance of claiming the fourth spot in Test rankings as per ICC’s rankings predictor. The Black Caps are ranked fourth with 102 ratings and Sarfraz and his men can even go on to topple them if they manage to emerge victorious in the series.

If Pakistan win 1-0 or 2-1, then they will end the series with 99 points and the Kiwis will get down to 98. The home team and New Zealand will finish with 101 and 96 points if Pakistan thump their rivals 2-0. Pakistan also have the opportunity to garner 103 ratings provided they manage to inflict their rivals with a 3-0 clean sweep. In that scenario, the visitors will come down to 94 points.

The Men in Green has had a decent campaign against Kane Williamson and Co. They won the T20I series 3-0 and managed to win their 11th consecutive T20I series victory under the leadership of Sarfraz. They didn’t start the three-match ODI series on a great note with a defeat in Abu Dhabi. However, Pakistan came back to draw level with a win in the next match. The final ODI was washed away.

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